TikTok is awful company which clearly panders to Chinese government, deletes anti-CCP content, and quite probably collects private data and promotes content in its own political interests.<p>However.<p>The whole world sees "The West" in general, and US in particular, as a place, where The Rule Of Law, and in general, some respect for the Rules, even for adversaries, is more important than in other places. That's why Russian oligarchs sue each other in London's courts. That's why millions of the most educated, the most creative, the most productive people immigrate to US and other capitalist countries from former Soviet block and not the other way around. Of course, US is not paradise, and everybody how ugly and criminal can it be sometimes; but still, compared to what other parts of the world look like, it's still a City upon a hill. Yes, US is a corrupt, racist country with a lot of deep internal problems, and yet it is still the best champion for democratic values we've got on the whole planet. (Some smaller European countries can have a better record, but they're just not significant enough to have a real influence).<p>And despite how awful TikTok is, and how I would applaud their demise, these executive orders, which directly violate these core ideals of western civilisation, damage not only US, but these ideals itself in the long run. I'm still amazed that a private company can sue the government and have a real hope at winning — if you're American, you may not realise how precious that possibility even is. And I really hope it does win.