Vivek Ramaswamy Reveals His Mind Was Changed on Evils of TikTok By… YouTuber Jake Paul
AP Photo/Reba Saldanha
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who once spoke out about the evils of Chinese-backed TikTok, now has his very own account, thanks to a push from YouTube celeb Jake Paul.
Ramaswamy tweeted Wednesday that Paul convinced him a TikTok account would help him reach younger voters.
“Had dinner with @JakePaul on Sunday,” Ramaswamy tweeted, continuing:
He changed my mind and convinced me to join TikTok. Yes, kids under age 16 shouldn’t be using it, but the fact is that many young voters are & we’re not going to change this country without winning. We can’t just talk about the importance of the GOP “reaching young voters” while hiding in our own echo chambers. It’s bad when the CCP collects data from U.S. users via TikTok, but the truth is it’s no better when “American” companies like Airbnb do the same thing by handing over U.S. user data to China, and we’re not going to get China to play by the same set of rules until we win this thing. I’ll be on there starting later today.
True to his word, @vivekgramaswamy went live on TikTok with several video clips and interviews.
In Iowa last month, Ramaswamy told those gathered, “Sixty percent of [Gen Z] say they would sooner give up their right to vote than to give up their access to TikTok. I’m not making this up. This is the stuff of a national crisis unless we step up and stand from something as a nation.”
How Ramaswamy and Paul came to meet remains a mystery, although Ramaswamy posted a video Tuesday of the two playing tennis.
Paul told OutKick that he planned to meet with all of the presidential candidates in a bid to help young people decide the fate of the country. The YouTuber-turned-pro-boxer called 2024 “the most important election in the past 100 years… we need someone great. America is falling. So I feel a responsibility to use my platform to help America and my future kids who one day will have to go to school in all this madness.”
Paul referred to Ramaswamy a “good ass American who could seriously help us,” but stopped short of an endorsement. He said he next wants to talk with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
