I agree that the argument for perceived threat is not great, but I can't say that I feel too bad for ByteDance or Tencent given that they are de-facto extension

I agree that the argument for perceived threat is not great, but I can't say that I feel too bad for ByteDance or Tencent given that they are de-facto extensions of a government who has spent a lot of time imposing ridiculous restrictions and conditions on entering their markets, mainly forced technology transfer. Also, if you think banning a chat app is more of a government restriction on free speech than requiring filmmakers to censor their movies and require Chinese government minders to be on the set in order to be screened in China then I would disagree with you.