Yeah they did do what they could to appease their critics/advertisers (a little over a year ago I think?) but the user base was ignoring it and still favouring leftist content even after the algorithm tweak you mention, if only slightly. In the Pew-Knight study from last summer, it was also only second to Twitter among users who use the site to get news on political issues. Keeping in mind that everyone whose job is to do or talk about politics is on Twitter and only some of them are on the other platforms, I think that means a lot.
It did lean to the left…until they “tweaked” the algorithm to push more right-wing content
Yeah they did do what they could to appease their critics/advertisers (a little over a year ago I think?) but the user base was ignoring it and still favouring leftist content even after the algorithm tweak you mention, if only slightly. In the Pew-Knight study from last summer, it was also only second to Twitter among users who use the site to get news on political issues. Keeping in mind that everyone whose job is to do or talk about politics is on Twitter and only some of them are on the other platforms, I think that means a lot.
They do whatever works for Chinese interests.
TikTok isn’t being banned, it was asked to be majority owned by an American company so it can’t be influenced by China.
A normal business would prefer to get some money than no money.
The fact that they refuse to do it is clear that its value only exists if it is controlled by Chinese government.