It was perfect ju-jitsu. After weeks of watching US President Donald Trump pressure Chinese tech company ByteDance to sell its social media app TikTok to Microsoft, Beijing struck back, using one of Mr Trump's own weapons of choice - export controls. The Chinese authorities expanded the Middle Kingdom's list of controlled exports to include algorithms, which are of course TikTok's main asset.
As the mother of a teenager who spends too much time watching 15-second bursts of physical comedy on the app, I can tell you that they are very good at keeping you hooked.
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