That would be when China started cavity-searching American business travelers and cloning all of their hard drives and other storage devices.
I’m amazed we ever thought it was a good idea to cozy up to China after all of the Americans they killed in Korea and Vietnam. Blood money, all of it.
Digital recording and data mining seems to be the new playground of tyrants. The more they know about it, the more they're determined to use it for their evil ideas. Nothing seems to be off the table; any ethical considerations are farcical. All the privacy promises are legalese for the tyrants' right to spy and profit, and reshape society as they will.
It changed after Trump became President - but got worse around 2018. The impression Americans were no longer welcome became very strong..