There have been plenty of hypocritical statements by foreign ministry spokesmen over the years. Russia’s protestations that it wants peace in Ukraine ring hollow, and Iran’s claims that it has nothing to do with unrest in the Middle East don’t sound convincing.
And yet, even by the low standards of the genre, China’s official mouthpiece hit a fresh low last week with its complaints that the forced sale of the social media app Tik Tok violated free and fair competition between open markets. From the country that has banned Facebook, X, YouTube and many others, the hypocrisy was stunning.
If it happens, it is going to be a huge sale, and one that will reshape the social media industry. With 1.7 billion users globally, Byte Dance’s TikTok is by far the most successful new internet product of the last decade. Last week, the US House of Representatives decided on national security grounds that the company could no longer be allowed to operate in the country while it was controlled from China.