TikTok stars protest app’s potential ban before its CEO is grilled

TikTok influencers descended on Washington to voice their opposition to Congress’ potential ban of the popular video-sharing app ahead of heated hearings on Capitol Hill.

“TikTok is not a children’s dancing app,” said Aidan Kohn-Murphy, a college freshman with around 300,000 TikTok followers and founder of the advocacy group Gen-Z for Change, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

“It is one of the most powerful tools that young people have to engage each other and to get civically involved,” he added.

Kohn-Murphy was among 20 famous TikTok personalities who took up the video-posting app on its invitation to lobby lawmakers ahead of Thursday’s grilling of the company’s CEO Shou Zi Chew’s.  

US officials put Chew on the hot seat over TikTok’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd., and how the app could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or promote divisive or manipulative content. 

The Biden administration recently requested that TikTok’s owners sell their stake in the company or face a possible ban.

The influencers defended TikTok as vital platform to its 150 million American users, many of whom have developed loyal followings and have been able to cash in on their popularity.

“It would be difficult to be able to support a candidate that would take away something that is so integral to the direction we’re going as a society,” said Baedri Nichole, a bakery owner from Columbus, Ohio, whose “hot cocoa bomb” confection is a hit on TikTok.

Kenny Jary, an 81-year-old retiree known on TikTok as Patriotic Kenny, said he relies on the app to raise money to buy mobility scooters for fellow veterans.

Others said the app provided a platform to launch small businesses or discuss topics such as eldercare and mental health. 

TikTok paid for the influencers’ travel and accommodation expenses, and bused them on Wednesday to Capitol Hill, where they gathered on a scenic rooftop to shoot their own videos. 

They also met with several lawmakers, including New York Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Yvette Clarke.

“I’m aware of the popularity of the platform. I’m not oblivious,” said Clarke, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who hasn’t yet taken a position on a potential ban.

“However, it’s important to weigh our equities here. National security has to be addressed.”

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner said before Chew’s testimony that video creators can transfer their skills to earn a living off other social media platforms, POLITICO reported.    

“Whether it’s an American company, a French company, an Indian company, there will be a replacement site where people can still be creative and earn that kind of living,” Warner said on CNN. 

With Post wires