Paul is joining with a California Democrat to introduce the bipartisan Repeal the TikTok Ban Act. The Kentucky Republican has downplayed concerns about allegations that China is harvesting American users' data through the app and instead couched the ban as anti-free speech.
"If we don't stop this now, where does it end? To every American who believes in liberty, stand up. Speak out. Fight back. Because freedom isn't given. It's taken," Paul said in an online video post.
That's not the view shared by fellow Kentucky Republican lawmaker,Andy Barr. The 6th District congressman has said TikTok's China-based parent company, ByteDance, is operating in ways that should concern Americans.
"ByteDance targets Americans with this application. They collect and surveil sensitive data from the American people, and they manipulate public opinion," he said.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to delay enforcement of the divest-or-ban law that triggered a brief outage for users in the US over the weekend.