Senator Rand Paul Blocks Effort To Ban TikTok

Senator Rand Paul Blocks Effort To Ban TikTok

(LibertySociety.com) – Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has been adamant in his effort to bring awareness to the national security concerns that TikTok poses on the United States, successfully inserting a ban on most government devices into the omnibus bill in December 2022, and now introducing legislation to ban the app nationwide. His efforts to force a vote on the nationwide ban were blocked on March 29th, 2023 by Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky, whose objection prevented a vote from being taken.

Senator Paul believes that a ban of the app would be a constitutional violation, in addition to angering Americans who use the app. He has had videos taken down by YouTube, prompting him to permanently move his videos to Rumble, but attempting to shut the company down is not a goal of his. He expressed his vitriol for YouTube, but added, “I’m not going to vote to ban them,” according to The New York Post. Senator Paul has always pushed for minimal governmental intervention in people’s lives, so his stance on the ban is no surprise to people who follow his politics.

Many lawmakers have agreed that action needs to be taken to protect the data of Americans, but there has been no consensus on what should be done. Another piece of legislation called the RESTRICT Act, has bipartisan support as well as approval from the Biden administration, but Senator Hawley explicitly opposes it. He has stated in a Tweet that “it gives the President a whole bunch of new authority,” adding that it will not be effective at stopping the CCP.

Senator Lindsey Graham co-sponsored the RESTRICT Act. However, he was asked about his support on Fox News by host Jesse Waters, who accused him of not reading the legislation before backing it. Graham reportedly indicated that he would appear on the show again for discussion if the legislation contained the measures Waters took issue with.

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