The U.S. government’s recent attempts to exclude TikTok and other Chinese tech companies from owning social media networks and apps set a dangerous precedent that challenges global democracy.

While the reasons may appear valid, the impact may undermine the notion of a free internet, writes Philip Mai at Ryerson’s Social Media Lab today in The Conversation Canada.

If the U.S. government is successful, and Chinese-owned tech companies may no longer operate in the country, the implication is that governments will be able to control the internet by establishing regulations around who can own platforms — and this has the potential to undermine how the internet has functioned so far.

Source: Trump’s attempts to ban TikTok and other Chinese tech undermine global democracy