> "Whataboutism" or "whataboutery" (as in, "but what about X?") refers to the propaganda strategy of responding to an accusation with a counter-accusation instead of offering an explanation or defense against the original accusation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

This is a counter accusation and not a defense, ergo, whataboutism.

No, it would be whataboutism to say something like "but in America you extrajudicially kill citizens for protesting the government."

It's not whataboutism to talk about the same subject in the context of a different government. In this case LLM corporations.

All you're doing is deflecting valid criticism. It's not whataboutism to talk about how bad American corporations are to American citizens in the context of talking about how supposedly bad Chinese corporations are to American citizens (China doesn't profit off of the deaths of Americans like health insurance companies (this is whataboutism for example)).

I never understood how people referred to or understood “whataboutsim”.

I personally understand it not as a diversion but as a critique of the moral higher ground implied by the first accusation. Said differently: keep your own house in order.