You have a fundamental right to privacy. Being able to express your opinion privately and have your own private space without being monitored or censored is vital in a free society. Data privacy is fundamental to maintaining truth and empowering citizens in a democracy. If your personal details are stolen, you can be a target for abuse. Keeping your data private can shield you from bullying, stalking, and other forms of harassment. Tiktok, Google, Meta, and other apps collect as much personal information about you as possible to manipulate what you see and what trends blow up. A Frog will jump out of boiling water, but if the water slowly heats up, that's another story. If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold. They also use your data to manipulate you into buying more products. Roughly 11.3 million tons of just clothing ends up in the landfill every year. China is a known surveillance state, and has terrible censorship laws. There are so many words you aren't allowed to say on Tiktok, and as AI gets better, more and more “workarounds” will likely be noticed and banned. The Chinese people are not to blame, they are human and under no question deserve to be treated and talked about as such. Governments are a whole different story. https://proton.me/blog/what-is-data-privacy Social media addiction is a real problem! Please think about your internet usage, and use it intentionally. Don't let it use you. Reduce the constant monitoring of your every action online. Opt-out of data collection in the settings, and think about the apps that you allow on your phone.