US Republican Senator Rand Paul blocked an attempt to speed up the process to ban the popular Chinese app TikTok, which is used by more than 150 million Americans, and expressed concern about free speech and unequal treatment on the social network.

"I think we should beware of those who use fear to persuade Americans to give up their freedoms. "Any allegations of data collection that are attributed to TikTok can also be attributed to major domestic technology companies," Paul said on the Senate floor.

Republican Senator Josh Haley requested unanimous consent for a bill to ban TikTok. "The law protects the American people and sends a message to Communist China that we cannot be bought," Haley said, adding that the app spies on Americans.

"If Republicans want to continue losing a generation, they should pass this bill to ban TikTok -- the social media app used by 150 million people, primarily young Americans," Paul warned. "Do we really want to emulate China's speech bans?" Are we going to be like China and ban the speech we fear?"

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said last week that he expects the House to take up the work of creating legislation for TikTok, but it has not yet been determined when. It's also not yet clear what the final TikTok law will look like.

A small but growing number of Democrats and Republicans have expressed concern, citing free speech and other issues. They opposed the bill to regulate TikTok because they think it is too broad. TikTok CEO Shaw Zi Chu appeared before Congress last week and faced tough questions about national security concerns about the BitDance-owned app.