Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized the TikTok ban imminent as a violation of the First Amendment, arguing that it is based on accusations, one day after the Supreme Court chose to maintain the law that will force the app to go dark unless it is sold by a China-based parent company.
“I think banning a social media app like TikTok is a violation of the First Amendment,” Paul said. he told reporters on Fridayand adds that he is “disappointed” by the sentence.
Friday in the nation’s high court alongside the Biden administration days before President-elect Trump’s inauguration, find that the divestment or ban law does not violate the First Amendment and lift a ban that will take effect Sunday.
“One hundred and seventy million Americans express themselves on TikTok every day, and it’s wrong for the government to ban that,” Paul continued. “Most of the reasons the government banned it were based on allegations, not evidence.”
“They have never been tried and found guilty of sharing information with the communist government or anything like that,” he added.
The Kentucky Republican also noted that President Biden “left the door open” for Trump to act and that he is “hopeful” that Trump can do something. The White House friday he said banning TikTok will fall to the Trump administration when the president-elect is sworn in on Monday, and Trump said he would weigh the future of the application when in office.
Biden signed bipartisan bill passed by Congress last April, which gave TikTok’s parent company ByteDance 270 days to divest from the app or face a ban from US app stores. The company said so pretends to “go dark” on January 19, unless the president intervenes.
Like Paul, Trump has become a convert over the past year open fan of TikTokciting its popularity on the app during its campaign.
Trump signed an executive order in 2020, during his first term, effectively prohibiting the app due to data privacy concerns due to its Chinese parent company. Now, some of the president-elect’s top advisers said in recent days will act upon taking possession next week to preserve access to the video-sharing platform while addressing data privacy concerns.
CEO of TikTok Shou Zi Chewwho has thanked Trump for his effort to conserve application in the US, it will attend the inauguration and sit on the dais with other technology leaders.
Other Republicans have raised concerns about the national security implications of Americans using the app, including Sen. Tom Cotton, (R-Ark.). cotton he said in a post on Friday on social platform X that the Supreme Court was right to reject TikTok and call the app a communist spy app.
