TikTok is the target of the USA lead anti China lobby in the past few days. USA has informed Chinese owners of the app to sell their shares or risk being banned in USA as it seems to be concerned about the security of the users of the app. However, they seem to be not worried about the risk of being misusing personal data by; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Israeli Pegasus & Cambridge Analytica. According to analysts in the USA the Police have access to; data from doorbell cameras, microphones in Amazon's Alexa & DNA data. USA is fortunate that analysts still don’t call it a Police state. Many who view the development in an unbiased manner feels that TikTok issue is a corporate theft due to political jealousy. Canada & UK who believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction are two partners of US effort. It is not clear how they would react if a small country such as SL blocks social media in any form.

TikTok has already agreed to make many changes to mitigate the US’s security concern. As a part of that US based Oracle will be hosting US data & control the software under the purview of the three member committee appointed by US government (Ref. Media). TikTok sources indicate that it had invested approx USD 1.5 billion to implement the US proposals but it seems that nothing but the pound of flesh is still being asked. Fair trading conditions US imposed on China when it finally allowed China to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) seems to be less or not important for US if TikTok is owned by a US company.

A historical analysis would indicate that the USA applied the same trade sabotage & bully attitude to Japan during post WWII period when high quality Japanese cars were gaining demand in the USA beating automobiles produced in the US. Then it was Huawei & now TikTok. One may compare this to Mafia behavior. Statistics indicate approx. 150 million active TikTok users are based in the USA alone & it really is an effective platform for the masses to share little victories of joy & the agonies of defeat in their small lives. Many view that the app had in fact inspired unknown creators to be entrepreneurs. Those entrepreneurs are average US citizens & not Chinese nationals.

In SL personalities such as late Mangala Samaraweera were vociferous when there were rumors about ex US citizen then President Gotabaya R was planning to ban TikTok in SL. In the Middle East countries such as Syria & Saudi Arabia are getting together for the cause of humanity with Russia being the mediator. Maybe there is a link to issuing the arrest warrant on President Putin. Iran & Saudi joined ending decades of rivalry due to Chinese peace interventions. The world seems to be uniting for humanity under the leadership of China & Russia. Under such circumstances the USA & its allies should at least try to keep their own masses happy so that they can at least control that part of the world. Once the BRICS expands to Iran, Saudi & Syria it will be a thicker wall protecting the human cause. Such walls are much stronger than the Berlin wall which came down during Regan administration. Sources indicate that the secret service code for President Ronald Regan (remembered on 30^th March) was raw hide. Hiding ground reality & political agendas with social media may end in hiccups.

(Views expressed are personal).