I think you'll find the chronology is the opposite of what you suggest.

The USA is the aggressor, as it always is. It can't have any peer on any level and will do anything it can to prevent it.

That's basically the GFW.

Isn't it true that the 1st amendment doesn't only apply to usa citizens? I recall someone suggesting it applies to foreigners too, albeit when they are in the USA's jurisdiction. Perhaps I'm wrong...

> we are not so authoritarian to stop people from accessing things

It's not so clear cut. For a start, for those inclined, it's perfectly possible to access any web site outside mainland China from inside, including without a vpn. It could be impractical for most, but most really don't care because there are better domestic alternatives focused on them.
Secondly, there are examples of the USA preventing access to things. For example, they stopped Chinese cellphone service providers, cgtn on broadcast TV, and, soon, tiktok.
Then there are companies like Google and Cloudflare who make it difficult for people who go the vpn route (again, not required) to access sites/services outside mainland China, by targeting vpn servers in other countries but used in China. There are also geofenced media services which are a pita. Dvd region codes forced on us, requiring those of us who travel to circumvent or repurchase our movie collection.
Lots of examples.
Perhaps not what you meant, but still.

Your description shows that tiktok/bytedance is just the new huawei.

Essentially, the complaint is not about the Chinese companies or Chinese government doing anything it shouldn't. The complaint is that the USA cannot do it (as easily). That is the whole problem. The USA thinks it should be the only one who is allowed to spy or hoover up data wholesale, and it is the only one who has been proven to be doing so. Any similar attempts by other countries pale into insignificance.

The usa government are just literally sinophobic, they're everywhereelseophobic. I guess that is what happens when you look in the mirror and see what you've become.

Except, that "funnelling" has not been proven and the small breaches of anything similar have been addressed. Tiktok has basically tried to jump through all the hoops that the USA government has asked it to.

The Chinese government didn't need to outlaw Facebook. Facebook preempted them by breaking the law. People actually died. Real, full-on terrorism.
Or do you think that Facebook should be allowed to break the laws of countries in which it operates, or only follow usa laws? Frankly, the USA has the same or similar laws, so it wouldn't make any difference.

It let Facebook operate in China, until they violated Chinese laws by facilitating terrorism (allegedly).
What did tiktok do?

Right. Tiktok has been trying to comply with the laws in place currently and the issues brought up specifically about tiktok, but the US government has now basically just come out and said what it wasn't prepared to before. As long as it is Chinese owned, it can't operate in the USA.
Note that the USA has pretty much the same laws, but China allows many USA owned companies to operate in China. And that's not even starting on the superior spying capabilities of the USA, which can make it look like spying originates from anywhere; and the myriad of regime change efforts and other despicable behaviour and lies/propaganda from the likes of the CIA and their so-called NGOs.

Tiktok hasn't been proven to be engaging in any of the acts their suspected of, or are feared of, while Facebook was literally aiding terrorism in mainland China and refused to comply with orders to identify the culprits.
Facebook deserved to be kicked out of China, but tiktok is just a victim of literal sinophobia.

Frankly, the USA is the bad actor in this world. China is a poor imitation.

Tiktok as seen in the USA is not a Chinese social network. It shares nothing with the same app in mainland China. It is simply owned by a Chinese company which jumps through hoops to comply with USA laws...still.

The same cannot be said for Facebook who facilitated terrorism leading to the anti-terrorism actions in Xinjiang. That's why they were shut down in mainland China.
Google abandoned their search service, presumably because they didn't like to comply with local censorship laws, and were losing on the search game anyway, so why bother...
Twitter/X never bothered trying serving the market in mainland China, so banning never even came up. The same can be said of most other US social media networks.
Ie they either refuse to comply with Chinese laws, or they never bothered trying to serve the market in the first place.
In any case, it's perfectly possible to access them all from mainland China (yes, without a vpn) but it's just not painless and most people aren't even interested in making the effort, so the businesses behind the networks aren't viable. The GFW isn't foolproof, but it works very well for this purpose, and means the Chinese government doesn't need to bother with the legal actions taken by places like the EU against arrogantly dominant US companies who think they can push other countries' governments around.

In the UK press, they're stating that trump hasn't flipped, but he just refused to make the decision himself, and told the rest of the government to decide, and he'd go along with it.

You're wrong on all counts.
Google search withdrew from China by choice and Facebook refused to comply with the law so were told to shutdown their main service.
Both companies continue to operate in China.
Google search, Facebook, Twitter/X etc are all accessible legally from within China, and, yes, without needing to turn on a vpn. The GFW isn't implemented on all internet connections, but is on the majority and not many care enough to bother using connections without GFW.

Vaguely, yes. They don't trust the USA or other western nations and for good reasons with many examples of precedent. Also, they want the companies to comply with Chinese laws, and to have easy ways to enforce it without having to deal with international courts.
They have it exactly right. The USA is now attempting to copy them, all the while claiming superiority.

This is literally sinophobia. Americans are afraid of China, literally.

They only banned Facebook, and that was due to non-compliance with the law and Facebook's involvement with terrorism.
They haven't banned any other social media, AFAIK (correct me if I'm wrong[1]), since no other platform has attempted to serve the Chinese market at all...ie there was nothing to ban.

[1] possibly the most redundant suggestion on the Internet.

If you are signed in but have history turned off, it shows no suggestions at all.

It used to, some months/years ago, but not any more. Now you just have the subscriptions tab to go on.