{"id":2391723,"date":"2025-01-17T12:57:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T17:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rand-paul-rips-tiktok-ban-as-authoritarian-action-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-01-17T12:57:44","modified_gmt":"2025-01-17T17:57:44","slug":"rand-paul-rips-tiktok-ban-as-authoritarian-action-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rand-paul-rips-tiktok-ban-as-authoritarian-action-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Rand Paul rips TikTok ban as \u2018authoritarian\u2019 action &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frand-paul-rips-tiktok-ban-as-authoritarian-action-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2391723&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Senator \u2062Rand Paul (R-KY) criticized\u2064 the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/illinois-lawmaker-wants-to-ban-grand-theft-auto-claiming-its-responsible-for-increased-carjackings\/\" title=\"Illinois Lawmaker Wants To Ban \u2018Grand Theft Auto,\u2019 Claiming It\u2019s Responsible For Increased Carjackings\">proposed ban<\/a>\u200c on TikTok, labeling it as an action characteristic of an\u2062 &#8220;authoritarian&#8221; regime. In an interview\u2062 with Fox News&#8217;s *Fox &#038; Friends*, he expressed his opposition to banning speech and highlighted \u200bthat\u200c around 170 million Americans use the app. paul \u200bemphasized that he \u200ddoes not support censorship, pointing out the alarming \u200cimplications of such bans on free speech in \u2062the \u2064U.S.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Rand Paul rips TikTok ban as &lsquo;authoritarian&rsquo; action<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1938072\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/rand-paul\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Rand Paul <\/a>(R-KY) said Friday that banning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tiktok\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">TikTok<\/a> is the act of an &ldquo;authoritarian&rdquo; nation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been in favor of banning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/free-speech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">speech<\/a>,&rdquo; Paul told Fox News&rsquo;s <em>Fox &amp; Friends<\/em>. &ldquo;About 170 million Americans use this app, and the interesting thing is, occasionally, the people who want to ban TikTok will say, &lsquo;The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/china\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Chinese<\/a> ban our apps in their country.&rsquo; Well, yes, because they&rsquo;re an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/communism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">authoritarian<\/a> country. We are not an authoritarian country, and, so, we shouldn&rsquo;t ban speech.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Paul&rsquo;s comments came just prior to the Supreme Court&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3286767\/supreme-court-upholds-tiktok-divestment-law-teeing-up-shutdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">decision<\/a> to uphold a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">federal law requiring&#038;nbsp<\/a>;TikTok to divest from ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, or be shut down in the United States.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 640px; max-height: 360px; min-width: 320px; min-height: 180px; overflow: hidden;\">\n<div style=\"position: relative; width: 100%; padding-top: 56.25%;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/share.grabien.com\/share.php?id=2760850&amp;userid=11311&amp;loginid=9421&amp;playercolor=%23000000&amp;playersize=auto&amp;code=d2ecb1f6b325b89a1427100a42b5ccae\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0px;\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&ldquo;There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-unanimously-upholds-tiktok-ban\/\" title=\"SCOTUS Unanimously Upholds TikTok Ban\">-supported national security concerns<\/a> regarding TikTok&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-chinas-tiktok-unable-to-explain-why-they-may-store-your-faceprints-and-voiceprints-and-other-biometric-data\/\" title=\"Report: China\u2019s TikTok \u2018Unable To Explain\u2019 Why They May Store Your \u2018Faceprints And Voiceprints\u2019 And Other \u2018Biometric Data\u2019\">data collection practices<\/a> and relationship with a foreign adversary,&rdquo; the court wrote in an unsigned opinion. &ldquo;We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners&rsquo; First Amendment rights.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>If people are concerned that their data will be used by the Chinese for &ldquo;nefarious&rdquo; purposes, they don&rsquo;t have to use the app, according to Paul.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I have some concerns about Meta and Google and YouTube and all the American companies scarfing up my data,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So, every individual has to make their decision, but I also have a great deal of sympathy for the performers and influencers that are on TikTok, who actually make a living expressing themselves.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Much of the fear about TikTok stems from its foreign ownership, but Congress has a committee on foreign ownership that should stymie that fear, Paul said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;TikTok has already agreed to go before that committee. They&rsquo;ve been talking to them for a year and a half,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve agreed to have their data stored at Oracle&rsquo;s cloud. They&rsquo;ve agreed to spend $1 billion doing all this, and yet everybody is running around with their hair on fire saying communist, communist, communist &hellip; I think it&rsquo;s overstated, and most of it is an accusation,&rdquo; Paul added.<\/p>\n<p>ByteDance has yet to divest from the platform, and TikTok could be unavailable in the U.S. if that action does not occur before Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1938072\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1938072\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rand Paul criticizes TikTok ban as &#8216;authoritarian&#8217; move<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2644,"featured_media":2391724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TikTok-Banned-scaled-1024x683.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20521,32171,38952,34763,47285],"class_list":["post-2391723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-authoritarianism","tag-political-commentary","tag-rand-paul","tag-social-media-regulation","tag-tiktok-ban"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TikTok-Banned-scaled-1024x683.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2391723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2644"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2391723"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2391723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2391727,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2391723\/revisions\/2391727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2391724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2391723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2391723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2391723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}