This month lawmakers in Washington went after TikTok with a new bill that could see the app bannedfrom app stores country-wide. Temu previously attracted scrutiny after its sister Chinese app Pinduoduo was suspended over malware, and the firm has faced questions over its underlying financial and corporate structure in a recent report by the Financial Times. Shein also faces questions over its data policies and scrutiny of its alleged use of forced labor in its supply chain. The EU in January rolled out an economic security strategy to protect what it sees as critical technology and infrastructure from global rivals, meaning China. It has beefed up economic defenses with tougher rules on Chinese state-owned takeovers and more intense scrutiny of industries where it worries about European businesses being outcompeted.

And it mentions data privacy below that.

It does say it: risk that the US will be pissed that Ireland isn’t cooperating in its suppression of China.

For a country that has thrived from a close relationship with the United States and its Big Tech giants, becoming a base for Chinese firms poses problems, as trade tensions over tech supremacy between the West and China heat up.