MAGA Republicans defend TikTok as ‘conservative platform’ as fate hangs with Supreme Court

Republicans have expressed strong support for TikTok ahead of its impending ban on the social media platform, which is set to take effect later this month.

“Trump won the election because he listened to first-time voters like me and joined TikTok to get his message directly to us,” said Brelyn Houlihand, chair of the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Committee (Brilyn Hollyhand) spoke to Fox News Digital about the impending ban. “He doesn’t need paid influencers or embarrassing trends like his failed counterpart. All he has to do is go where Gen Z is, on TikTok, and lay out his plan.”

Representatives for TikTok, owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance, will make arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to delay a ban on the app that is set to take effect the day before the inauguration. President Biden signed legislation in April giving TikTok’s parent company until January 19 to sell the company or face a U.S. ban.

If the Supreme Court does not halt the ban, U.S. TikTok users will no longer be able to download the app and Internet providers will be barred from accessing the site.

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The looming ban was initially motivated by concerns about the Chinese government’s collection of U.S. user data, but MAGA Republicans and content creators who spoke to Fox Digital dismissed the rationale as disingenuous.

RNC Youth Advisory Committee Chair Brilyn Hollyhand praised TikTok for inspiring young people to vote for current President-elect Donald Trump. (John Lamperski/Getty Images)

TikTok founder and TPUSA commentator Isabel said: “If not, I’ve gone as deep as I can on all issues related to the platform, especially on my daily show where I share my thoughts on culture and politics. Opinions and commentary on what’s going on “We’ve been facing the possibility of a ban on the platform for at least nine months to a year…The complaints I’ve heard, especially from politicians, have been mostly on national security grounds. ”

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“But I have a hard time believing that the real reason for censoring TikTok is national security concerns, because we still have documented evidence of nearly every American social media company. Meta, Twitter, YouTube, etc. selling your data. Put the table on you.” own government and/or the Chinese Communist Party, or even the Russian government.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 23, 2023 (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Heck, we even have records of Airbnb selling U.S. data to the Chinese Communist Party. So it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of interest in actually keeping U.S. citizens online and secure from the government.” Just focus on TikTok as a platform itself ,” Brown continued.

Chairman of House China Committee says divestment of TikTok could be Trump’s ‘deal of the century’

Supporters of President-elect Donald Trump are praising TikTok after the former and incoming president made significant gains among Gen Z, especially young male voters, last cycle. A Fox News voter survey released after the election found that 53% of men ages 18-44 supported Trump, compared with 45% for Vice President Kamala Harris.

TikTok influencer Isabel Brown said she doesn’t believe in the national security argument for banning TikTok, given the way various U.S. social apps handle data. (Fox News)

“We’re talking about an app that nearly 200 million Americans (75% of whom are Gen Z) use every day as our primary news source and, according to some studies, even more so than Google as our primary web browser search tool. More…I find that the opportunity to go viral on Tiktok — to have a conversation with as many people as possible — is unmatched by any other social media platform,” Brown said.

One Republican strategist told Fox News Digital that TikTok is for all intents and purposes a “conservative platform.”

“TikTok is a conservative platform right now anyway — and if you look at how Trump has dominated the competition, the value of the platform is indisputable, and I think Trump is the most powerful person in the world. will achieve his goals.

The Republican insider added, “The fact is [Sen. Mitch] McConnell and [former Vice President Mike] Pence wanting to ban this thing means it needs to be saved.

Participants hold signs supporting TikTok outside the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Anna Chanmemaker/Getty Images)

Before the new year, Senator Mitch McConnell filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court urging the justices to deny ByteDance’s request to delay the ban.

“The perverse notion that TikTok has expressive rights that facilitate Chinese censorship is absurd,” McConnell’s lawyer, Michael A. Fragoso, wrote in an amicus brief. “Does Congress need to allow Nikita Khrushchev to buy CBS and replace The Bing Crosby Show with Alexander Nevsky?”

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s nonprofit group Advancing American Freedom filed a similar amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court last month.

“The Chinese Communist Party does not respect free speech, either in China or in the United States. The First Amendment is not, and should not be, interpreted as giving the Chinese government a means to do what the U.S. government cannot do: manipulate what Americans do. Can speak and listen,” the group wrote.

Advancing American Freedom president Tim Chapman told Fox News Digital that the first Trump administration “got it right the first time” when Trump initially worked to ban TikTok, and the former The president and incoming president changed his mind about the app.

Chapman said: “For the first time, the Trump administration has this power. They plan to ban TikTok through executive power for the same concerns that exist today. Political strategists salivating over clicks and fans does not mean national security. The impact has changed.

Trump joins TikTok, an app he tried to ban during his presidency

Emily Wilson, a political commentator and host of the podcast “Emily Saves America,” told Fox News Digital that she can see both sides of the argument surrounding the looming TikTok ban, but enacting a ban would be ” Hypocrisy about free speech.”

“The TikTok ban is controversial and I see both sides of it. I think it’s a very left-leaning app that consumes too much of people’s time, but sometimes it’s something I get concerned about that should be breaking out globally. The only place where the story’s message is at the same time is that it could lead to radicalization of young people.

Political commentator Emily Wilson opposed the TikTok ban over free speech concerns.

“This seems to be an app that tends to be anti-American and brainwash young kids. At the end of the day, it would be hypocritical of free speech if I said ban it. I just don’t want it to hurt young people,” she added.

Chairman of House China Committee says divestment of TikTok could be Trump’s ‘deal of the century’

Trump himself has made a 180-degree turn on TikTok. In 2020, during Trump’s first administration, he sought to ban the app from the U.S. market over national security concerns. However, his executive order was ultimately struck down in federal court.

Fast forward to the 2024 campaign cycle, and Trump joined the app in June during the campaign cycle and has since gained nearly 15 million followers and 107 million followers as supporters flock to his content on the platform A thumbs up. Trump also filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court last month that did not support either side in the case, arguing that the platform’s fate should be decided by his administration.

Then-former President Donald Trump dances as he leaves the stage after speaking with former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard during a town hall meeting on Aug. 29, 2024, in La Crosse, Wisconsin. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

“Today, President Donald J. Trump filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the court to extend the deadline leading to TikTok’s imminent shutdown and give President Trump the opportunity to save TikTok and protect its interests. way to solve the problem,” told Fox News Digital last month.

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“President Donald J. Trump (‘President Trump’) is the 45th President of the United States of America and will soon become the 47th President,” the brief states. “On January 20, 2025, President Trump Will assume responsibility for U.S. national security, foreign policy and other important executive functions.”

Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singleman, Paul Steinhauser and Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.