[Professor Tim Wu has a must read post in the New York Times that nails the problems with TikTok (and WeChat).  The subtitle are words that will live forever:  “Critics say we shouldn’t abandon the ideal of an open internet. But there is such a thing as being a sucker.”  Wowsa.]

Were almost any country other than China involved, Mr. Trump’s demands would be indefensible. But the threatened bans on TikTok and WeChat, whatever their motivations, can also be seen as an overdue response, a tit for tat, in a long battle for the soul of the internet.

In China, the foreign equivalents of TikTok and WeChat — video and messaging apps such as YouTube and WhatsApp — have been banned for years. The country’s extensive blocking, censorship and surveillance violate just about every principle of internet openness and decency. China keeps a closed and censorial internet economy at home while its products enjoy full access to open markets abroad.

The asymmetry is unfair and ought no longer be tolerated.

Read the post on the New York Times.