Dave Portnoy has claimed the US government’s TikTok ban reminds him of their response to small business owners during the early weeks of the Covid pandemic.
Speaking before Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to try and delay the social platform’s ban by 75 days, the Barstool Sports founder fumed at the government for letting the situation escalate to the point it was, briefly, taken offline.
Portnoy said: ‘This entire situation makes me want to puke. I really f***ing hate it.
‘This reminds me of Covid in a way when the government’s just like cut the legs out of so many businesses. “You can’t open your doors, you can’t do business, we’ve got to protect you”.
‘There are so many creators, small businesses who have worked for years, for years to build their livelihoods, their careers on TikTok.
‘You finally become successful and the government is like, “boop! Sorry, cut your legs out. You’re done. We don’t trust the Chinese. I know you’ve been working for three years to build your livelihood but you’re out of luck, go and try rebuild on another platform which is virtually impossible. Go get a normal nine to five”.
‘That’s bulls***, I f***ing hate it. Same vibe as Covid. The government playing like daddy and all these old f***ing congressman and senators, they have no idea how many people have built their livelihoods on TikTok.
‘It’s disgusting to me that they can snap their fingers and ruin these people’s lives, basically.’
Portnoy doubled down on his beliefs on Fox’s ‘Will Cain Show’ on Tuesday.
He said: ‘I’m very concerned about how many people earn a living. It’s huge. You can’t underestimate that.
‘And just to cut it out – and you got people who are investing in Meta writing the bills, it’s all pretty confusing.’
The short video app used by 170million Americans was taken offline temporarily on Saturday night shortly before a law that said it must be sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance on national security grounds, or be banned, took effect on Sunday.
TikTok resumed service on Sunday after Trump’s assurances that the company and its partners would not face hefty fines to keep the app running
He then signed an executive order on Monday seeking to delay by 75 days the enforcement of the law that was put in place after U.S. officials warned that under Chinese parent company ByteDance, there was a risk of Americans’ data being misused.
TikTok remained unavailable to download on Apple and Android devices in the United States on Tuesday afternoon.
Some looking to make a quick profit from TikTok fans’ desperation listed devices on eBay with the app purportedly downloaded for up to $50,000.
Trump said on Tuesday he was open to billionaire Elon Musk buying TikTok if the Tesla CEO wanted to do so.
Bloomberg News reported last week that Chinese officials were in preliminary talks about a potential option to sell TikTok’s operations in the US to Musk, though the company has denied that.
Trump suggested his government should be a half-owner of TikTok’s U.S. business in return for keeping the app alive, and warned that he could impose tariffs on China if Beijing failed to approve a deal.
