> ... concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or sway public opinion ... the potential for what it called “covert co

> ... concerns that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or sway public opinion ... the potential for what it called “covert content manipulation” by the Chinese government ... China could for example further its existing malign influence operations So many hypotheticals! The only concrete "manipulation" is the "heating", which boils down to TikTok inorganically showing you a video they want you to watch (e.g. I get spoonfed videos from the TikTok CEO), which isn't great but falls far short of the claims DoJ makes around manipulation. Sending sensitive (or any) user data back to Beijing is awful, but the fact that they have to pile speculation into every one of these stories shows that there's really not a lot there.