For years following the 2016 US presidential election, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter were embroiled in a constant string of scandals. But despite their obvious shortcomings, there appeared to be no alternative. The stage was set for a challenger when TikTok exploded onto the scene in 2018, following its merger with musical.ly. The growth of the video-sharing app got an additional boost during the pandemic and has since become a central node in global culture as its highly effective algorithm has kept users — particularly young people — constantly coming back for more.

It’s exactly the type of story that’s usually celebrated by the tech industry and its boosters in media and government: a tech company launches a new product and it achieves massive user growth in just a few years, proving stiff competition for incumbents and creating a significant cultural footprint. But such praise is not forthcoming in the case of TikTok, because ByteDance, which owns the platform, is a Chinese company. For the first time, a Chinese social media app is effectively challenging the dominance of its US competitors. Consequently its rise is being greeted primarily with fear, not celebration.

Now we’re waiting to see if the Biden administration will ban the app in the United States, citing concerns over Chinese surveillance capacities. The proposal runs counter to decades of US tech policy, which has promoted the global expansion of the internet at all costs. To justify this policy approach, US policymakers have tended to frame any restriction on internet access as a violation of people’s right to free speech. But free speech was never the end goal: in reality, the concept of a global, unfiltered internet has been primarily attractive insofar as it ensures that US companies maintain their market dominance. Now that their dominance is being challenged, the supposed defenders of a free and open internet are singing a different tune.