Big Tech collecting our personal data? A sense of defeat, then a shrug

In late January, when it looked as if TikTok would go dark in the United States, users flooded the platform with videos mocking concerns over the app's national security risks. TikTokers bid farewell to their "designated Chinese spies" and pretended to mail packages containing copies of their fingerprints and social security numbers to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Hundreds of thousands of users joined another Chinese-owned social media app, Xiaohongshu, which translates to "little red book," a reference to a collection of sayings by Mao Zedong, the late founder of the People's Republic of China. Kris Dew, a 27-year-old content creator…