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Yes, but as a specific exercise, the US government wants to spy on US citizens because if gives them the power to arrest you. You could be committing crimes right now and not realize it, but if you ever become a person of interest they will use them against you.
Of what use is specific data from specific nationals to a foreign government? They don’t have anywhere near the same level of power over your life as your home government does, all of that information is just fluff to them.
And not for nothing, but the original conversation was about Discord, which is partially owned by Tencent but partial ownership by a private Chinese firm does not give the Chinese government any kind of special control over the platform.
When I was a kid they taught penmanship too. I was awful at it but then when I was an adult I had a job where I actually had to use those skills and I was glad to have them - same with everything I learned in Home Ec, most the stuff I learned in wood/metal/auto shop, etc. I think all of those classes are extinct now, based on how people talk about school never teaching them anything useful.