There are plenty of other platforms where you can express whatever speech you want however you want. These Chinese authors are not prevented from presenting their opinion.
The Chinese government is however prevented from controlling what information gets broadcasts in the US. That’s why this ban comes with an “or sell” option. They don’t object to the platform, its users, or its content, they object to CCP control over how the platform prioritizes content within the United States. There is no way to protect from political influence of a foreign government while that government has its hands all over the platform without outright policing speech.
This is not new, it’s an update to existing restrictions on foreign countries broadcasting to US citizens. Laws of this nature have been on the books for decades, they just haven’t applied to the Internet (similar to how common sense utility law has struggled to be applied to the Internet).
I am very much for a ban or sale. I think most people (myself included) are far less objective/are more subject to propaganda than we’d like to believe. The fact that China cares so much about a platform that’s losing money speaks volumes. Well, that and this networkcontagion.us/…/A-Tik-Tok-ing-Timebomb_12.2…
They’ve already banned US controlled promotional algorithms within their own country. They know exactly what they’re doing and all this “the US government is undermining its citizens choice!” talk is China trying to use western values against the west in a sort of “malicious compliance” only they stand to benefit from.