They could try, but they don’t have control over the app in the same way that they do with empire ones, so they’ll be fighting with whatever measures are put in place to stop it. Which is part of the reason we got to this point in the first place, that they don’t have control over TikTok. I fully expect the empire to try to fight dirty in whatever way it can come up with, it’s been fighting dirty for decades (hundreds of years if you consider the empire to include British colonialism and others). But wanting to make something happen and having the means to do it aren’t always the same thing.

So be wary, certainly, but keep the logistics of things in view too. The logistics can be more telling about what may be attempted and how it may be attempted than what is desired to happen. The colonial/imperial orgs of the world have had a certain understanding of this historically; it’s why you can find writing with the CIA calling Stalin a captain of a team rather than a dictator. Though at this point, they may be believing their own lies more, I don’t know. Either way, whether making ineffectual attempts that ignore logistics, or making attempts that contend with the realities, Red Note / XHS is not exposed to their predation in the same way that it is with western apps.