Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. threatened to file a lawsuit over legislation passed that could potentially ban TikTok.

“I’m going to file a lawsuit challenging the TikTok ban on Constitutional grounds. Don’t be fooled — the TikTok ban is not about China harvesting your data. That’s a smoke screen. Intelligence agencies from lots of countries, especially ours, are harvesting your data from everywhere all the time. TikTok isn’t even majority Chinese-owned, and the company agreed to put its data behind a U.S. firewall. The Biden administration rejected that deal,” RFK Jr. said.

“Congress and the administration don’t understand that TikTok is an entrepreneurial platform for thousands of American young people. They want to screw them over just so they can pretend to be tough on China. The TikTok ban is yet another example of how neither political party has any compunctions about sacrificing your freedoms, rights, and choices, when it serves their political interests,” he continued.

“100 percent right here,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) commented.

“TikTok sucks, but broad state censorship of well more than Chinese-controlled data harvesting apps sucks more,”
Harmeet Dhillon said.

The Hill reports:

His comments come just days after President Biden signed a $95 billion national security package that includes language to ban TikTok in the U.S. if the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, does not sell the app. ByteDance officials said they have no intention of selling the app, despite a potential ban.

“Foreign media reports that ByteDance is exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue,” the company said in a statement, adding that it “doesn’t have any plan to sell TikTok.”

A spokesperson for TikTok also said in a statement that the law is “unconstitutional” and that they “will challenge it in court.”

RFK Jr. said the TikTok ban is a “catastrophe for free speech.”

WATCH:

Patrick Bet-David said Meta would benefit from a TikTok ban.

Bet-David writes:

Here’s who benefits the most from a TikTok ban.

Meta: 57% of TikTok users
Youtube: 22%
Other: 15%
Snap: 6%

Applying the same portion (57%) of the revenue of TikTok, Bernstein analysts forecast $12 billion of revenue in 2025 to Meta.

From The New York Times:

Barring the app from U.S. shores could take months, or even years — if it actually happens. The road ahead is complicated, and any disruptions to the app could bolster its American rivals.

Who would benefit? The clear answer is Meta and Google. Both have increasingly emphasized their short-video offerings — Instagram’s Reels and YouTube’s Shorts — as places for creators. (Influencers often post on all three platforms.)

Analysts at Bernstein have estimated that, should TikTok be banned, Meta could draw up to 60 percent of TikTok’s American ad revenue, while YouTube could take another 25 percent or so. Meta’s stock was up more than 2 percent in premarket trading this morning.

Over the years, Meta has sought to amplify concerns about TikTok. But Meta may also experience some blowback if Donald Trump, an unexpected opponent of the TikTok bill who has called Facebook a bigger danger to the U.S., wins re-election in November.

Meta’s C.E.O., Mark Zuckerberg, is likely to face questions about his embattled rival when his tech giant reports earnings on Wednesday.

Expect TikTok to fight for its life in court. The platform will probably argue that a ban would violate users’ First Amendment rights, setting up a legal challenge that could wind up in the Supreme Court.

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