[TravisPeacock]

Economics, prestige, etc. It’s worth a lot to China to be competing with the US in social media / Internet stuff. China (and Russia) have been pushing a narrative that the US operates on two sets of rules for them vs everyone else.

The US is happy to invade countries and turns a blind eye to Israeli aggression but Russia or China want to do it and they are met with sanctions etc. The last bastion of American exceptionalism was how it’s a free market and values free speech and free competition.

There was a national security threat but the US walked right into it: China is making a move for the top spot as global hegemon. It’s recruiting other countries to say don’t work with the US, work with us instead. The US flinched. Ralph blew the conch and all the kids just installed RedNote .

[empath75]

RedNote falls afoul of the exact same law and will probably be banned soon after TikTok.

[TravisPeacock]

Except that's not the point at all. The US just proved to the world that it doesn't care about competition and it's citizens (in some number) have rejected the concept of "National Security" by switching to a more explicitly Chinese company.

That's a blow to hegemony that will have lasting consequences.