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Sen. Rand Paul said Friday he is strongly opposed to a new bipartisan U.S. Senate bill that would essentially ban China-based social media app TikTok, calling it a violation of the First Amendment.

Paul said at an event in Louisville that his opposition to the bill was consistent with small government ideology, having nothing to do with the fact that his most prolific political donor is also the largest American investor in the company that owns TikTok.

The RESTRICT Act was filed two weeks ago by Sens.Mark Warner, D-Va., andJohn Thune, R-S.D., and received initial support from the White House, proposing to give the Biden administration new power to restrict or ban technology from China and five other countries deemed U.S. adversaries.

Supporters advocated the bill as a way to prevent China from spying on Americans through apps like TikTok owned by China-based company ByteDance but Paul said a ban would be an abuse of free speech rights, akin to what the Chinese government does.

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"TikTok is actually banned in China," said Paul, who was attending the grand opening of the Goodwill South Louisville Opportunity Center. "We will be acting like the Chinese government if we ban TikTok here.

"We'll be disenfranchising the speech of about 100 million Americans. So no, I'm completely against it."

Paul noted that the RESTRICT Act would not just ban TikTok, but any other technologies from those countries that the administration sees fit to restrict.

"They could later on deem another social media company to be a product of an adversary and they could ban that too," Paul said. "It's wrong, and I don't think the courts will uphold it."

The largest American investor in TikTok owner ByteDance is Jeff Yass, who owns 7% of the company. According to Bloomberg News, this investment accounts for roughly half of Yass' $33 billion fortune, with the rest coming from his Philadelphia-based global investment and trading firm Susquehanna International Group.

More:'Foreign technology threats': Commerce secretary could ban TikTok under bipartisan bill

Yass, whose ideology has a similar libertarian bent as Paul, is also the largest political contributor to PACs supporting Paul's campaigns in recent years by far.

Yass contributed $5 million in 2021 to Kentucky Freedom PAC, a super PAC supporting Paul's 2022 reelection campaign, while also directing more than $5 million in 2022 to Protect Freedom PAC, another Paul-affiliated super PAC.

The early ByteDance investor was also the largest individual donor to PACs supporting Paul's 2016 presidential campaign, with FEC records showing he has now given at least $23 million to Paul committees since 2015.

Asked about Yass in the context of his opposition to a TikTok ban, Paul replied: "My decisions are not based on any kind of donations. My decisions are based on the Constitution and First Amendment."

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled by lawmakers in a House Energy and Commerce Committeehearing Thursday about what the app does with users data and its ties to the Chinese government, with representatives in both parties accusing him of dodging questions and calling for a ban.

Last year Congress passed a bill into law banning TikTok from all government-issued devices, which other states have mimicked with their own ban. One of those states is Kentucky, where Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order in January banning it from all state government networks and devices and also signed into law a bill passed by the legislature to codify the ban.

Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com and follow him on Twitter at@joesonka.

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Rand Paul opposes new bill that could ban TikTok nationwide - Courier Journal