Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) criticized the looming TikTok ban as a violation of the First Amendment, arguing that it’s based on accusations, a day after the Supreme Court opted to uphold the law that will force the app to go dark unless it’s China-based parent company sells it.
“I do believe that banning a social media app like TikTok is a violation of the First Amendment,” Paul told reporters on Friday, adding that he is “disappointed” by the ruling.
The nation’s high court on Friday sided with the Biden administration days before President-elect Trump’s inauguration, finding the divest-or-ban law does not violate the First Amendment and teeing up a ban set to take effect Sunday.
“One hundred seventy million Americans express themselves on TikTok on a daily basis, and it’s just wrong for the government to ban it,” Paul continued. “Most of the reasons the government banned it were based on accusations, not proof.”
“They’ve never been tried and found guilty of sharing information with the communist government or any of that,” he added.
The Kentucky Republican also noted that President Biden “left the door open” for Trump to act and that he is “hopeful” Trump can do something. The White House on Friday said the TikTok ban 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 app when he’s in office.
Biden signed the 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 U.S. app stores. The company said it intends to “go dark” on Jan. 19, unless the president steps in.
Like Paul, Trump has in the past year become an outspoken fan of TikTok, citing his popularity on the app during his campaign.
Trump signed an executive order in 2020, during his first term, effectively banning the app over data privacy concerns because of its Chinese parent company. Now, some of the president-elect’s top advisers in recent days said he will act upon taking office next week to preserve access to the video-sharing platform while addressing data privacy concerns.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who has thanked Trump for his effort to preserve the app in the U.S., will attend the inauguration and sit on the dais with other tech leaders.
Other Republicans have cited concerns about the national security implications of Americans using the app, like Sen. Tom Cotton, (R-Ark.). Cotton said Friday in a post on social platform X that the Supreme Court was right to reject TikTok and called the app a communist spy app.
