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Western countries, at least the ones I've lived in, don't often out-right ban software. It's unpopular and likely to garner scrutiny from both the press and constituents, but largely, it's a political grenade — you have to constantly fight the software suppliers each release; it's a signal to businesses that the government is not going to protect your commercial interests; and philosophically it's just over-reach.

Banning TikTok is akin to "banning all apps from a country" and the obvious response will be that country will ban your apps in return... and businesses operating in those countries may be quite unhappy to find their market evaporate.



>the obvious response will be that country will ban your apps in return

I agree in general, although in this particular most Western apps are banned in TikTok country of origin anyway.


TikTok is published by ByteDance, a public company incorporated in the Cayman Islands.

Can you tell which "western apps" are banned in Cayman Islands?


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ByteDance

It's a Chinese company. The location of incorporation is pretty tangential to the discussion of app censorship.


And Microsoft/Apple/Facebook sells stuff in Europe through a company incorporated in Ireland. Does that make those companies Irish?




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