Breads and circuses is one thing, but when TikTok allows the mobilisation of the people of the West against the depravity of their ruling elites, TikTok becomes too much of a threat, even if several anglo elites are shareholders of the TikTok franchise. For all their talk of liberal democracies being great for accountability, the elites of the west hate accountability and being held to a standard, otherwise they would not imprison and torture Julian Assange.TikTok is part of the circus half of "panem et circenses" in the US now. If it gets sold to someone else and it keeps operating then the people won't care. If however bytedance retreats from the US and shutdown TikTok because of the ban on sale of algorithm from CPC then it could have unpredictable societal impact. Even Roman Emperors know you don't screw with panem et circenses.
Another reason why the Anglo elites want to ban TikTok is because it reveals and amplifies reports of the sins of the anglo ruling class. Take the Netflix documentary re the rape of Nickelodeon child actors by the foot fetishist and bad hairdo aficionado Dan Schneider
In China, such child abusers are executed. Small wonder the anglo elites are so afraid of China.