Barstool Sports founder and president Dave Portnoy said it’s hard to understate TikTok’s importance to small businesses and content creators as lawmakers ponder next steps for the social media platform.
“I’m very concerned about how many people make a living. It’s huge. You can’t underestimate it. And just to make a long story short — and you’ve got people investing in Meta writing the bills, it’s all pretty confusing,” he said Tuesday on “The Will Cain Show”.
TikTok shut down in the United States late Saturday night after the app was installed in China the parent company of ByteDance failed to sell the platform to an American buyer.
A TikTok ban message appears on a mobile phone screen with the TikTok logo on a tablet screen, as seen in this photo illustration. Recorded in Brussels, Belgium, January 19, 2025. (Jonathan Raa / Sipa USA)
President Donald Trump, who has backed a ban on TikTok in 2020, signed an executive order on his first day in office on Monday, giving it a 75-day extension to continue operating in the United States.
Chinese Communist Party House Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., wrote a comment explaining the next steps for TikTok.
SENATOR CALLS TIKTOK A ‘WEAPON’, SAYS AMERICANS ‘MUST KNOW THE HORRIBLE TRUTH’ ABOUT IT
“TikTok’s attempts to blame the government are misleading. The law is not a ban, and Congress has given TikTok a clear path to continue operating: Cut ties with the Chinese government and restrictions will be lifted immediately,” Moolenaar wrote. “When the law was passed last April, Congress gave ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, 270 days to sell off its stake and relinquish control of the platform.”
“But even as U.S. buyers lined up to bid, ByteDance declined to discuss the possibility of a sale. In an eyebrow-raising move, the company appears willing to look at its alleged a $50 billion operation go up in flames instead of complying with the law’s simple demand that they renounce,” he continued.
The TikTok logo is shown on a smartphone in this illustration taken on Jan. 6, 2020. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvić)
In a video posted on YouTube, Portnoy said the TikTok debate reminded him of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when the government told businesses not to open their doors because it had to “protect you.”
“There are so many creators, small businesses that have worked for years, years to build their livelihoods, their careers on TikTok. You finally become successful and the government is like, boop! Sorry, cut off your legs. You’re done,” he said in the video.
Portnoy told Fox News host Will Cain that he doesn’t trust any social network and admitted he doesn’t know much about how CCP uses the application to collect user data.
FILE – This Feb. 25, 2020 file photo shows the icon for TikTok in New York. President Donald Trump will order China’s ByteDance to sell its hit video app TikTok over national security concerns, according to reports Friday, July 31, 2020. “We’re looking at TikTok,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “Maybe we’ll ban TikTok.” (AP Photo/File) (AP Photo/File)
“I don’t have the Secret Service telling me everything they care about. I understand misinformation to a degree. Spying? I don’t know. I’m just a regular guy sitting here looking at TikTok and ask what they’re talking about?” he explained.
Trump wrote on the Truth Social over the weekend that he would like to see The United States has a “joint venture.” between the current owners and/or new owners with the U.S. acquiring 50% ownership in a joint venture established between the U.S. and any purchase we choose.”
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He added that without US approval, “there is no TikTok.” “With our approval, it’s worth hundreds of billions of dollars — maybe trillions.”
