Would you say that US-based apps that use e.g. Google Analytics, and therefore share information with Google, "surface the interconnectedness between all of these firms" and are a good reason to e.g. ban apps from US-based developers?
My comment starts with the reality that some people (e.g. U.S. Congress) find cause for concern WRT Chinese apps.
This is the reason, say, revelations about interconnectedness matter when it comes to Chinese apps versus U.S. apps.
You may disagree about whether there should be cause for concern, but that's another matter.
But, if you're asking me if I personally think there's cause for concern around allowing a foreign adversary access to your citizenry via social media platforms, then the answer is yes.
And, of course, China itself also believes it's a problem, which is why U.S. social media is banned there.
If you consider all Chinese apps suspect because they're Chinese then it doesn't make any difference whether they're connecting to another app or not. For anyone who doesn't already think Chinese apps are automatically their adversary, I don't see how a Chinese app using a Chinese metrics framework in exactly the same way that is completely routine for US apps using US metrics frameworks (and indeed any number of other countries) is supposed to move the needle on how suspicious this app is.
>If you consider all Chinese apps suspect, then it doesn't make any difference whether they're connecting to another app or not.
>For anyone who doesn't already think Chinese apps are automatically their adversary...
I think we're drifting from the original context. My point was that some people, including many in U.S. Congress, do take issue with at least some Chinese apps (let's just say TikTok here). This concern is at least partially WRT its data collection/handling and espionage. So any other apps that connect to it (or its parent company's products) and provide data would obviously also be viewed as problematic.
Incidentally, this isn't necessarily related to whether that other app is China-based.
You brought in the question of whether U.S. companies would face similar scrutiny for connecting to other U.S. companies, and I was merely explaining the difference.
Not the op, but yes, I would; this is why I approve of GDPR and the cookie popup rules and am actively angry at every company who think it's legit to share browsing habbits with more "trusted partner" companies than there were students in my secondary school.
