“I’ve never been in favor of banning speech,” Paul told Fox News’s Fox & Friends. “About 170 million Americans use this app, and the interesting thing is, occasionally, the people who want to ban TikTok will say, ‘The Chinese ban our apps in their country.’ Well, yes, because they’re an authoritarian country. We are not an authoritarian country, and, so, we shouldn’t ban speech.”

Paul’s comments came just prior to the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a federal law requiring TikTok to divest from ByteDance, its Chinese parent company, or be shut down in the United States.

“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary,” the court wrote in an unsigned opinion. “We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights.”

If people are concerned that their data will be used by the Chinese for “nefarious” purposes, they don’t have to use the app, according to Paul.

“I have some concerns about Meta and Google and YouTube and all the American companies scarfing up my data,” he said. “So, every individual has to make their decision, but I also have a great deal of sympathy for the performers and influencers that are on TikTok, who actually make a living expressing themselves.”

Much of the fear about TikTok stems from its foreign ownership, but Congress has a committee on foreign ownership that should stymie that fear, Paul said.

“TikTok has already agreed to go before that committee. They’ve been talking to them for a year and a half,” he said.

“They’ve agreed to have their data stored at Oracle’s cloud. They’ve agreed to spend $1 billion doing all this, and yet everybody is running around with their hair on fire saying communist, communist, communist … I think it’s overstated, and most of it is an accusation,” Paul added.

ByteDance has yet to divest from the platform, and TikTok could be unavailable in the U.S. if that action does not occur before Sunday.