Tim Scott's hesitance to ban TikTok outright looms amid his tough on China push

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Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott says Donald Trump is 'overqualified to be my vice president'

Scott was interviewed by Fox News Digital on July 18, 2023, in Salem, New Hampshire.

Republican presidential candidate and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scot's tough-on-China rhetoric on the campaign trail has drawn attention to his hesitance to call for an outright ban on TikTok. 

"Communist China is emboldened by Biden’s weakness. They are buying up our farmland, spying on our kids, and stealing our jobs. America needs a commander-in-chief with a backbone. As president, I will STAND UP to China," Scott said earlier this week on social media, including video of a new ad displaying his stance toward China.

In a May interview with NBC News following the launch of his presidential campaign, Scott was asked about one of his top donors, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and whether he was troubled that the company was running TikTok's servers in the U.S.

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Scott's hesitance to call for an outright ban on TikTok in the U.S. has set him apart from the other top-tier GOP presidential candidates, though Scott has sharply criticized the company and supported a ban of the app specifically on government devices.

"I think parents are going to have to make that decision ultimately [whether children should have access to TikTok]. I would not allow my kids to have access to TikTok without any question. I think we should seriously have that conversation in the public forums so parents have all the information about the challenges that are happening, because their kids are on the devices too much, and let them be the final arbiter in that conversation," he told Fox News in March.

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Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) speaks to guests at the Family Leadership Summit on July 14, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Scott has seen backing from lobbyists linked to TikTok's parent company. 

According to Open Secrets, a group that tracks money in U.S. politics, five lobbyists who donated to Scott's re-election campaign earned lobbying firm Mehlman Castagnetti hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying on behalf of ByteDance in 2021 and 2022.

Those five lobbyists donated a total of $4,500 to Tim Scott for Senate in the same years – prior to his presidential campaign – according to data from the Federal Election Commission.

Fox News Digital reached out to an outside source for further analysis on the donations and lobbying efforts on behalf of Chinese firms like ByteDance and TikTok.

"The Chinese Communist Party is leveraging TikTok to exploit our free and open society by spreading disinformation, censoring politically sensitive content, and conducting psyops against young, vulnerable Americans," said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council. 

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The icon for the video sharing TikTok app on a smartphone. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Sobolik also told Fox that banning TikTok, which he called a "technological Trojan Horse," would show how serious America is in "prevailing against the Chinese Communist Party."

"Half measures won't do. Unfortunately, many elected leaders on the Left and the Right rely on political donors with close ties to TikTok and ByteDance. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Good policy shouldn't be held hostage by shady money," he added.

When reached for comment, Scott campaign communications director Nathan Brand told Fox, "Tim Scott knows it is time for a president who has a backbone and will go toe to toe with the Chinese Communist Party. China has only been emboldened by Joe Biden's weakness and refusal to take their rising threat seriously." 

"Senator Scott has consistently fought for tougher action against the CCP to stop them from buying up American farmland, spying on our kids, and taking American jobs. It is more important than ever for new leadership to show our adversaries in China, Russia, and Iran that the United States is loyal to our allies and lethal to our adversaries. A President Scott White House would end Biden's retreat away from safety and security," he added.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) speaks with reporters at Alex's Restaurant in South Carolina on April 14, 2023.  (Allison Joyce/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Scott's campaign also pointed to his new tough-on-China ad and noted that he had introduced numerous pieces of legislation as a member of Congress, aimed at cracking down on China, including combating China's abuses of its minority Uighur population, preventing the sale of America's strategic petroleum reserve to the nation and a bill requiring app stores to display the country where apps are developed.

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Additionally, the campaign pointed to Scott's comments at a May Senate Banking Committee hearing in which he called China a "would-be bad actor" when it came to stealing Americans' data, and then to his presidential campaign announcement speech in which he vowed to "finish" the "new economic Cold War" he said China had started.