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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) got into a heated debate Thursday morning regarding who owns the social media platform TikTok.

Paul was discussing his opposition to banning TikTok and how people need to be more clear on who owns ByteDance, the parent company of the platform. It comes after the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to pass legislation to force TikTok to separate itself from ByteDance or risk getting banned in the United States.

This is the most important fact of all of this, and it needs to be debated, not assumed as a fact, Paul said on Fox Newss Fox & Friends. The companys owned 60% by international investors, 20% by the two Chinese software engineers who developed it, the entrepreneurs who began the business, and 20% by their employees, 7,000 of whom are American. So, its a very diverse ownership. Its not owned by the Chinese government. In fact, on TikToks board, there are no Chinese nationals that control this or are associated with the government at all. Theyre CEOs from Singapore. So, this is an international corporation, and like every other international corporation, they deserve their day in court. You cant just take their property. Look, I have a lot of arguments with the Chinese communists. I have a lot of arguments with the Saudi authoritarians. But Im not saying we should allow banning anybody to do business with the Saudis because they have an unsavory government as well and because they spy on their people.

Host Brian Kilmeade then asked Paul if he went to a congressional hearing attended by TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Paul said he did not but stated he was aware that TikTok has been working with the U.S. government to stay open in the country, including transferring most of its data to a cloud service in Texas.

Kilmeade then suggested that nobody thinks the Texas project is up and running, to which Paul argued that he himself believes this, claiming that the host was making allegations against TikTok instead of facts. The two then got into a back-and-forth disagreement over who owns ByteDance, with Kilmeade claiming that it was owned by China and Paul reiterating that the companys ownership is a mix of investors, engineers, and TikTok employees.

Banning TikTok in the U.S. has been a divisive topic among Republicans, with Paul being one of several to speak up against the legislation. Earlier in his Thursday interview, Paul suggested that banning TikTok could open the door to get other platforms where news is shared banned, such as X.

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Former President Donald Trump is among the people who have spoken out against the move to ban TikTok, reversing his previous stance on the platform.

On Friday, President Joe Biden stated thathe would sign the bill should it ever reach his desk. Despite this,his campaign is still using TikTok, likely as a move to reach younger voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

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Rand Paul gets in heated debate over ownership of TikTok parent company ByteDance - Washington Examiner

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