While few issues gain bipartisan support in Washington, the idea of banning TikTok has emerged as a middle ground for Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
But one billionaire Republican financier, Jeff Yass, is deeply invested in TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance and could stand to lose major sums should the social media app be outlawed in the United States. And many on the Right want to send a message to the GOP's wealthy donor class: Stop pumping cash into entities they say are opposed to America's national security interests.
"Any platform the Chinese government is using to intentionally manipulate American culture should be banned," Executive Director Wade Miller of Citizens for Renewing America, a conservative group headed by ex-Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, told the Washington Examiner. And that $21 billion isn't far off from the billionaire's net worth — Forbes estimates Yass has roughly $29 billion. Yass has also donated $61 million since 2017 to the influential GOP-aligned Club for Growth, whose president, ex-Rep. David McIntosh , penned an op-ed in March pouring cold water on a TikTok ban proposal, stating that handing"the government the power to ban apps and pick and choose between competing apps is a huge restriction on phone freedom.
Yass and his wife, Janine Yass, have contributed over $24 million combined since 2015 to Sen. Rand Paul , and committees supporting him, and over $32,000 combined since 2020 to Rep. Thomas Massie , and a committee backing the lawmaker, the Wall Street Journal reported. Both of the libertarian-leaning Republicans have taken ardent free speech positions over the years and opposed a TikTok ban.
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