36

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

all 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] grue@lemmy.world 17 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Sampling bias from the fact that you're reading posts written in English, not Mandarin.

(By the way, I'm actually not as concerned with Chinese companies collecting my data as I am with American companies doing it, precisely because China doesn't have jurisdiction over me, while the US does. Similarly, I would expect Chinese people to be more afraid of Chinese data collection than they are of US data collection.)

[-] Battle_Masker@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 6 hours ago

Have you been looking for opinions that the Chinese have about foreign entities collecting their data? I haven't, and generally don't, so that's why I haven't heard anything about it

[-] thermogel@lemmy.ml -1 points 3 hours ago

Because they're probably dealing with their version of surveillance from CCP. It would be interesting to hear conversations from privacy experts and advocates over there, and share experiences of what we're all dealing with.

[-] bad_news@lemmy.billiam.net 55 points 11 hours ago

There's a national firewall that blocks Google and Meta... they have national pihole...

[-] dessalines@lemmy.ml 36 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

This is the right answer. The PRC doesn't let US surveillance giants operate within their country like most other countries naively do.

NoWayKnowHow - The firewall is good actually

[-] meerstyler@feddit.org 12 points 11 hours ago

Should EU do that too instead of age verification?

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 31 points 11 hours ago

China has sovereignty over their internet infrastructure, that's what the Great Firewall is for. The US Empire cannot do as it likes with China.

[-] artifex@piefed.social 15 points 11 hours ago

Probably for the same reason I'm not concerned about Chinese companies collecting my (US) data -- what the hell are they going to do with it? I already know all the terrible things that my local/national companies and state/federal government are doing with citizens' collected data; there's real, well-known risk there. Compared to local actors, foreign ones are not nearly as incentivized to do anything with it.

[-] safesyrup@feddit.org 19 points 11 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 9 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 10 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 11 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
36 points (95.0% liked)

Asklemmy

53883 readers
773 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS