Barstool Sports founder and president Dave Portnoy said it’s hard to understate the importance of TikTok small businesses and content creators as lawmakers consider next steps for the social media platform.
“I’m very concerned about how many people are making a living. It’s huge. You can’t underestimate that. And just to rule it out – and you’ve got people investing in Meta writing the accounts, it’s all quite confusing ,” he said on “The Will Cain Show” on Tuesday.
TikTok went dark in the United States late Saturday night after the app established itself in China parent company ByteDance failed to sell the platform to a US buyer.
The TikTok ban message appears on a mobile screen with the TikTok logo on the tablet screen, as seen in this photo illustration. Taken in Brussels, Belgium, on January 19, 2025. (Jonathan Raa / Sipa US)
President Donald Trump, who supported the ban on TikTok in 2020, signed an executive order on his first day in office Monday, extending the company’s ability to operate in the United States for another 75 days.
Chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party John Moolenaar, R-Mich., wrote one op-ed explaining the next steps for TikTok.
SENATOR CALLS TIKTOK ‘A WEAPON’, SAYS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW ‘THE CILLING TRUTH’ ABOUT IT
“TikTok’s attempts to blame the government are misleading. The law is not a ban, and Congress gave TikTok a simple path forward: cut ties with the Chinese government and the restrictions will be lifted immediately,” Moolenaar wrote. “When the law took effect last April, Congress gave ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, 270 days to sell its stake and relinquish control of the platform.”
“But even as US buyers line up to make offers, ByteDance has declined to discuss the possibility of a sale. In a move that is raising eyebrows, the company appears prepared to reportedly… US operation worth $50 billion go up in flames instead of meeting the simple demand of the law to divest,” he continued.
In this image taken on January 6, 2020, a TikTok logo appears on a smartphone. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic)
In a video on YouTube, Portnoy said the TikTok debate reminds him of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the government told businesses not to open their doors because it “needs to protect you.”
“There are so many creators, small businesses that have worked for years to build their livelihoods and their careers on TikTok. You finally become successful and the government says: crook! Sorry, cut your legs out. You’re done,” he said in the video.
Portnoy told Fox News host Will Cain that he doesn’t trust any social media network and admitted he didn’t know much about how the CCP uses the app to collect user information.
FILE – This February 25, 2020 file photo shows the icon for TikTok in New York. President Donald Trump will order China’s ByteDance to sell its popular video app TikTok over national security concerns, according to reports published Friday, July 31, 2020. “We are looking at TikTok,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “Maybe we will ban TikTok.” (AP photo/file) (AP photo/file)
“I don’t have the Secret Service telling me everything they’re worried about. I understand the disinformation to a certain extent. The spying? I don’t know. I’m just a regular guy sitting here watch on TikTok and ask: What are they talking about?” he explained.
Trump wrote on Truth Social this weekend that he would like to… The United States has a ‘joint venture’ between the current owners and/or new owners, with the U.S. getting 50% ownership in a joint venture set up between the U.S. and whichever 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 even trillions.”
