Should Americans be protected from the technological tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party, for sure, at the same time the rest of us should be protected from American survielence capitalist social media + NSA, as non-USA democratic citizens don't we deserve the same respect and consideration, or are the $$$ just too alluring to live up to shared values /s.

I am not Canadian or American, but what this seems to confuse and conflate, with a bait title, is 'taxes' with the right of nation States, including democratically elected ones, to regulate tech as they see fit.

IRL Slauterbots in the making: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecClODh4zYk

See my first sentence.

Indexing, and associated ad model revenue, are directly linked, Google search and associated ad revenue would be nothing without the content of others.

I do agree media companies want to have their cake and eat it too, but that is a separate matter from the need to regulate big tech, particularly the profit from harm business model, and the efforts by big tech to manipulate and threaten when it comes to the right of nation states to set whatever laws they deem appropriate for their citizens.

As an Aussie I don't totally agree about some aspects of what was done here to start to bring Google/Meta to heal, but a couple of things to note:

Payment related to content to sustain a competitive market is not a payment for links, it is a recognition that Google and other big tech financially benefits and exploits the content of others for that financial benefit, often within highly controlled and manipulated eco systems.

Secondly, since the introduction of legislation Australia, and despite Google's heavy handed scare tactics, same with Meta, the sky has not fallen, agreements are in place and from the consumer perspective, other than the FUD tactics at the time, nothing has really changed since there is some national legislation.

In my view big tech can and should be regulated, particularly in circumstances where the underlying business model is profit from harm.

Despite doom propaganda, the net is not gong to collapse just because some necessary legislation is required. Rather, common democratic common sense and controls should prevail over corporate paid lobbyists, particularly when the latter are carefully controlled messaging via third parties.

The current big tech opposition to considering and introducing democratic based controls reminds be of the efforts by the tobacco industry to stall legislation, once it was known the product caused significant harm.

Sounds like positive changes to me, I would like to have those options.

It is the Chinese who are not following historical agreements re Hong Kong: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-40426827

China agreed to govern Hong Kong under the principle of "one country, two systems", where the city would enjoy "a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs" for the next 50 years.

Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region, and would retain certain freedoms, including:

an independent judiciary
multiple political parties
freedom of assembly and speech 

The territory has its own mini-constitution - the Basic Law - that enshrines these rights.

It states that "the ultimate aim" is to elect the territory's leader, the chief executive, "by universal suffrage" and "in accordance with democratic procedures".

Actually it is the Chinese who are not following historical agreements re Hong Kong.

Sounds like a case of self-interested profit before people, particularly if Apple executives are not prepared to respond.

Do not open a file from an unknown source, security 101.

You could easily go a step further and hook up a motion simulator to the RC car using SimTools and the RC Rider plugin, it would be trivial to do: https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/the-rc-rider-project-lets-ride-radio-controlled-models.11545/