Efforts from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to ban Chinese-owned TikTok on U.S. soil suffered a setback on March 29 when fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) opposed the move, arguing the ban would limit free speech.
On the Senate floor, Paul objected to Hawley’s request for unanimous consent to fast-track a ban on the viral app in the United States over national security concerns, telling his fellow colleagues he sees the ban as a First Amendment issue.
“Before banning TikTok, these censors might want to discover that China’s government already bans TikTok. Hmmm … do we really want to emulate China’s speech bans?” he said….