Jeff Yass, a Bala Cynwyd billionaire, has been building a network of support for TikTok, the Chinese video hosting service, in the United States, writes John D. McKinnon and Stu Woo for The Wall Street Journal.

Government leaders from both the Democratic and Republican parties had been pushing for the popular social media app to be banned in the country earlier this year, but legal action has been stalled.

One of the concerns cited was that the Chinese government could order TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to either spy on or influence American TikTok users. The company, however, says it would never agree to do that.

Yass’s Susquehanna International Group bought a stake in ByteDance in 2012, and since then he has been a strong supporter.

He says his opposition to a ban is not all about the financial investment though. He said he’s always been a proponent of limited government.

Many of the groups that Yass donates to have also publicly opposed the ban, including the Club for Growth, a conservative organization that focuses on economic issues, as well as a political committee backed by Senator Rand Paul.

These groups say that their stance on the ban has nothing to do with Yass’ donations and everything to do with concerns over government censorship.

Read more about the Yass-TikTok connection in The Wall Street Journal.

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