Charlie Kirk and Isabel Brown on How TikTok Made Gen Z Conservative and Trump's Potential to Save It

[00:00] Isabelle Brown is very popular on Tik

[00:02] Tok Tik Tok by the way uh is scheduled

[00:05] to be banned in the United States on the

[00:08] 19th of January coming up in nine days

[00:10] from now it's going to be in the hands

[00:12] of President Trump the law gives

[00:13] president Trump the ability to either

[00:15] keep the ban or to allow Tik Tok to

[00:18] operate or to allow it under uh what

[00:20] could be some sort of a settlement but

[00:22] in the meantime the Supreme Court may or

[00:24] may night might may strike down the law

[00:27] allow Tik Tok to continue to operate

[00:29] over 100 70 million Americans use Tik

[00:31] Tok and we reach billions of people on

[00:33] Tik Tok joining us now is Isabelle Brown

[00:35] Isabelle welcome to the program Isabelle

[00:37] talk about the profound impact that Tik

[00:39] Tok has had making gen Z more

[00:43] conservative well the truth is Charlie

[00:45] we wouldn't be preparing for a trump

[00:47] Inauguration in just over a week if it

[00:49] weren't for Tik Tok it has been

[00:52] astounding to see the impact that that

[00:54] campaign had on one social media

[00:56] platform in fact according to Tik Tok

[00:58] employees Trump is outperforming pering

[01:00] his performance on every other social

[01:02] media platform on TiK ToK by a factor of

[01:05] five so he's five times more impactful

[01:08] on Tik Tok than anywhere else but of

[01:10] that nearly 200 million Americans that

[01:12] you just mentioned that use the platform

[01:14] every single day about 70% of those

[01:17] individuals are Generation Z are this

[01:19] next great generation that we're

[01:21] starting to see become overwhelmingly

[01:23] conservative largely because of accounts

[01:25] like yours Donald Trumps and so many

[01:27] others engaging with young people in an

[01:30] authentic honest conversation that feels

[01:32] a lot more tangible and accessible on

[01:34] Tik Tok than it does on meta or YouTube

[01:37] per

[01:38] se yeah so just really quick we have a

[01:41] minute here and I'm going to keep you

[01:42] for another segment Isabelle what would

[01:45] what would a ban of Tik Tock mean for

[01:48] conservative creators and the progress

[01:51] we've been making to make gen Z

[01:53] red what's been really fascinating this

[01:55] last week is that there's been a much

[01:57] larger conversation opening up related

[01:59] to free speech on social media not just

[02:01] from the First Amendment perspective but

[02:03] from content policy and moderation

[02:05] perspectives too in fact Mark Zuckerberg

[02:07] just said they're backtracking on meta

[02:09] to get rid of fact Checkers and

[02:11] censorship of conservative ideas largely

[02:14] because of Tik Tok now I know we've all

[02:16] had our frustrations with certain

[02:17] censorship issues and account accounts

[02:19] getting shut down over the last several

[02:21] years but I've been screaming from the

[02:22] rooftops for about a year and a half

[02:24] that only one platform has been

[02:26] regularly reaching out to myself and

[02:28] other conservative creators to insist

[02:30] that we have a home on their platform

[02:33] and that is Tik Tok frankly the only

[02:35] reason that these conservative values

[02:37] are becoming trendy and cool again is

[02:39] because young people are confronting

[02:41] them where they are in a language they

[02:43] you convinced me on it so Isabelle Tik

[02:46] Tok is scheduled to be banned on the

[02:49] 19th of January the Supreme Court heard

[02:51] the case today we have no idea how that

[02:54] case will end up it might strike down

[02:56] the law which is very unlikely president

[02:58] Trump has it in his ability to save Tik

[03:01] Tok the law allows the president to

[03:03] strike a deal to say what is a qualified

[03:06] divesture I was just reading about it in

[03:08] the break do you think president Trump

[03:10] should save Tik

[03:12] Tok I absolutely do Charlie namely

[03:15] because this is a matter of First

[03:17] Amendment freedom of expression rights

[03:19] for All American citizens I'd be really

[03:22] curious to hear everything that was said

[03:23] in the oral arguments today but I do

[03:25] know this free speech angle was of the

[03:27] utmost importance for Tik tok's legal

[03:29] team and I'm sure will be based an

[03:31] existing Supreme Court precedent from a

[03:33] case back in the 1960s called Lamont V

[03:36] Postmaster General way back then

[03:38] American citizens wanted to receive

[03:41] propaganda that the United States

[03:42] government had deemed to be against

[03:44] National Security from the then

[03:46] Communist Party of Russia and ultimately

[03:50] it was determined that your free speech

[03:51] rights in America don't just protect

[03:53] what you say out loud but also protect

[03:56] what the Supreme Court called your right

[03:57] to receive so when our federal

[04:00] government namely Congress from a

[04:01] bipartisan perspective is making the

[04:03] argument that this is against the issues

[04:05] of National Security currently occupied

[04:08] by the White House and by those on

[04:09] Capitol Hill they're really ignoring

[04:12] this right to receive that Americans

[04:14] have baked into our constitution to not

[04:17] just say something that might be

[04:18] unpopular but to hear a difference of

[04:21] opinion as

[04:23] well the the ramifications for Banning

[04:26] uh Tik Tock how

[04:28] many how how how many small businesses

[04:31] use Tik Tok What are the economic

[04:32] potential ramifications here again I

[04:36] think that something needs to be

[04:36] probably cleaned up on the data side

[04:38] make sure that American data is not

[04:40] shared with the Chinese Communist party

[04:42] some sort of deal struck maybe bring in

[04:44] a third-party data company I'm just

[04:46] thinking out loud here but as a Creator

[04:48] I was super skeptical and Isabelle you

[04:50] were like no you got to use Tik Tok you

[04:52] got to use Tik Tok and we sent out this

[04:53] Proclamation because we were banned so

[04:55] many times we got banned from Tik Tok

[04:56] like 35 times and Ryan was like you got

[04:59] to keep posting so we sent out this big

[05:01] tweet and we said hey if you're going to

[05:03] treat us fairly we're going to keep

[05:04] posting and now we got like 5 and a half

[05:06] million followers and billions and

[05:08] billions of views uh and so what would

[05:11] the economic impact of such a Tik Tock

[05:14] ban

[05:15] be oh it it can't be underscored Charlie

[05:18] there are quite literally millions of

[05:19] American small businesses that have been

[05:21] built up thanks to Tik Tok alone in this

[05:24] postco era that would essentially cease

[05:27] to exist almost instantaneously some

[05:29] economists are projecting this could

[05:31] yield a massive unemployment rise for

[05:34] Donald Trump taking office a week from

[05:36] Monday and would be catastrophic to the

[05:38] American economy so that is certainly a

[05:40] concern but as for this idea of American

[05:43] data you know I still have a very hard

[05:45] time believing that the true intention

[05:47] behind this law was to protect Americans

[05:50] data first and foremost if this law is

[05:52] upheld by the Supreme Court they are

[05:54] still allowed to hold on to nearly 200

[05:56] million Americans data after Tik Tok

[05:59] ceases to operate in the United States

[06:01] so that data is just already out there

[06:04] and we have countless documented

[06:05] examples of meta selling your data to

[06:08] China Russia and the US government alike

[06:10] Mark Zuckerberg admitted today on Joe

[06:12] Rogan that the Biden Administration

[06:15] forced them to censor certain content uh

[06:18] and to provide American data to the

[06:20] federal government Airbnb has been known

[06:23] to sell your data to the Chinese

[06:24] Communist party so I don't really think

[06:27] that's what's happening here when you

[06:28] see this r bipartisan overwhelming

[06:31] support happening on Capitol Hill from

[06:33] people who can't even agree on what the

[06:35] definition of a woman is the hair on the

[06:37] back of my neck begins to stand up

[06:39] asking what's really the impetus for

[06:41] this and I think so much of it has to do

[06:44] with the free conversations happening on

[06:45] the

[06:46] platform final question here Isabelle if

[06:49] president Trump saves Tik Tok What would

[06:51] that mean for uh our worldview and for

[06:53] him would that be a big

[06:55] win oh it would be an endless win

[06:57] Charlie and I'm highly encouraging the

[06:59] president to do so not just to protect

[07:01] this Red Wave conservative movement

[07:03] we're seeing happen with young people

[07:05] but to continue encouraging conservative

[07:08] values to thrive across Western

[07:10] Civilization this isn't just protecting

[07:12] free speech and the exchange of ideas

[07:14] for American citizens but young people

[07:16] everywhere and I'm incredibly excited to

[07:18] see where the movement

[07:20] goes Isabelle great work thank you I

[07:23] know you have many followers on Tik Tok

[07:25] and I think president Trump benefited

[07:28] tremendously from Tik Tok I don't know

[07:29] if he would have won the youth vote and

[07:30] I do know this he would not have won the

[07:33] presidency without the youth vote young

[07:34] people moved dramatically in his

[07:36] Direction Boomers moved in comma

[07:37] Harris's Direction Boomers were three

[07:39] four points towards kamla Harris Donald

[07:42] Trump would have lost the presidency you

[07:44] can make an argument it's a little bit

[07:46] of a reach but it's there that President

[07:48] Trump might not have won the White House

[07:50] without Tik Tok there's an argument to

[07:52] be made there because we know that he

[07:54] would not have won it without younger

[07:55] voters