Wouldn’t you have to have some sort of MITM to be able to inspect that traffic?

That, or a court order telling your ISP or mobile operator to allow the sniffing. Or just the police wanting to snoop your stuff because they can. Not every country cares about individual or human rights, you know

TOR is what their already-existing tip tool uses.

Yes, but tor can be blocked at a firewall level, its packets are easy to identify. “Nations like China, Iran, Belarus, North Korea, and Russia have implemented measures to block or penalize Tor usage”