Republicans Who Wanted to Ban TikTok Are Now Using It

Politicians of every stripe warned Americans that TikTok was a national security threat, then used it to win elections anyway.

According to NBC News, at least 49 members of Congress had verified TikTok accounts as of late 2024. Twenty-three of them voted for the bill that would have banned the app.

This isn't a Republican problem or a Democrat problem. It's a Washington problem.

Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok via executive order in 2020. He launched his own TikTok account in June 2024 and racked up 14.6 million followers — the most of any U.S. politician, according to NBC News. He then signed the legislation forcing a sale. Then he extended TikTok's deadline. Repeatedly.

Now the GOP Is Rushing In

With ByteDance having sold 80% of TikTok's American operations to a U.S.-led consortium — Oracle holding the largest stake at 15%, per the Daily Signal — Republicans are treating the app as safe enough to use.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., joined TikTok a few weeks ago and already has more than 500,000 followers, according to the Daily Signal. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, joined in February and has around 21,000. Kennedy's deadpan humor built his reputation on the app before he even had an account — people were clipping his Senate remarks and posting them without him.

"My staff keeps telling me to make videos, 'just be normal,'" Kennedy said in one post. "Hell, nobody's normal in the United States Senate."

Fair point. But the uncomfortable question remains: if the app was dangerous enough to demand a forced sale, why is it suddenly safe now that some politically connected American investors own a piece of it? ByteDance still controls roughly 20%. That's not zero Chinese influence. That's a significant stake in a platform used by 180 million Americans, according to reporting from Chaotic Era News.

Republican digital strategist Amanda Elliott told Chaotic Era News she "wouldn't expect a flood of new GOP accounts overnight" but acknowledged the American ownership structure gives conservatives political cover to get on the platform.

The Bigger Story

While Washington argues about who gets to post videos on TikTok, the company is quietly building something more significant.

According to TechCrunch, TikTok is transforming into a super app — the same model that made WeChat dominant in China. Think Facebook, Apple Pay, Google Maps, and an e-commerce platform fused into one.

Here's what's already happened:

• TikTok Shop — live e-commerce embedded in the feed
• TikTok GO — launched this month, lets users book hotels, attractions, and experiences directly in the app without leaving for a third-party site
• Fintech license application — Reuters reported TikTok applied to Brazil's central bank to offer lending and payment services, seeking two licenses: one for prepaid payment accounts and one to lend its own capital

TikTok is now competing directly with Google Search, Google Maps, Booking.com, and potentially Visa, all at once. Congress remains focused on the ownership deal.

The Algorithm Question

NYU Abu Dhabi professors Talal Rahwan and Yasir Zaki published a study in the journal Nature finding that TikTok's algorithm systematically prioritized pro-Republican content in New York, Texas, and Georgia during 27 weeks of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Bots trained on pro-Republican content saw about 11.5% more content aligned with their views compared to pro-Democrat bots. Even bots trained on Democratic content were 7.5% more likely to be served pro-Republican material on their For You pages.

TikTok responded by saying the study used fake accounts that don't reflect real user behavior. It doesn't explain the directional tilt.

Democrats dominated TikTok's creator landscape for years — Chaotic Era News data shows most of the top 100 political accounts by engagement lean liberal or nonpartisan. But the algorithm was quietly nudging users toward Republican content. The actual data contradicts both the left's narrative of the platform as a progressive megaphone and the right's claim that it's simply compromised by Chinese influence.

What This Means for Americans

Three developments merit attention.

First, the politicians warning the public about TikTok were often using it themselves. Their credibility on the issue warrants scrutiny.

Second, TikTok is no longer just an entertainment app. It wants to hold your money, book your travel, and handle your payments. The national security conversation focused almost entirely on data collection from video-watching. Congress has said little about what happens when TikTok has access to Americans' financial transactions.

Third, an academic study published in Nature found the algorithm shapes political reality in ways the platform won't fully explain.

John Kennedy is funny on TikTok. That's fine. But the app his colleagues spent years calling a threat to democracy is building infrastructure to sit between Americans and their money — and Washington is too busy going viral to notice.