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I have seen a lot post talking about how Chinese companies collect US citizens data but I never seen a Chinese person complain about it. Do they think US doesn't have the power to abuse that data?

Really curious

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[-] safesyrup@feddit.org 18 points 13 hours ago

Most naive comment i have read today. Foreign countries do heavily influence politics based on collected data. So does the US, so does China, so does Russia.

[-] artifex@piefed.social 13 points 11 hours ago

Unless you're going to spend the rest of your life in a cave somewhere (an increasingly good-looking option), then it's a legitimate matter of perspective imo. Every activity carries some inherent risk, and my current viewpoint is that domestic entities are the worse option compared to foreign ones. Will China/Russia try to use US data to influence US elections? Of course. But you know what? So do US-based political operatives. So does Meta and Microsoft. The difference is that Meta and Microsoft have unfiltered access to our data (we give it to them), and the direct ability to lobby/bribe our politicians. Might a Chinese company try to sway my opinion on some Chinese/other foreign topic? Yes, of course. But so does every big tech company, every cable news operator, and so many millions of US-run websites. The domestic operatives have more access and are capable of doing more damage.

[-] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago

I feel the same as OP but it's not due to lack of knowledge, it's good threat assessment. My political ideology is anchored entirely in the idea of empathy and being left alone so foreign actors trying to radicalize me isn't going to go far. Data about my political leanings are going to be an anomaly on the graph so it won't help anyone trying to sway a nation that already doesn't want any of my input regardless of who's in charge.

As for corpos, I would gladly buy all of my stuff internationally if it got me a better price, but now all it gets is slower shipping. Meanwhile, the local corpos actively spy on my every move so they can better rip me off. It's, a good idea to be worried about a gunfight happening down the block, but it shouldn't distract from the gunfight in your yard.

Yes, the best practice is to sure up against every threat, but in a practical sense, worrying about an international body harvesting my data is like watching a burglar open your front door and deciding you need bars on the attic vent.

[-] voxthefox@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 12 hours ago

Yeah but this is socialized risk (political influence) for personal gain (access to the apps)

A vast majority of the public do not see themselves as vulnerable to propaganda targeted at themselves, or at least they dont see it happen in real time. So the risk is abstract to them at best but more likely seen as non-existent, while the gain is immediate and concrete.

this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2026
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