A hot potato: It's understandable that teens and creators are upset about the prospect of TikTok being banned in the US, but one unexpected individual lending their support to ByteDance's app is Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. The Woz says he doesn't understand the proposed ban and called out the US government for being hypocritical by targeting just one social media platform for tracking users when they all do it.

Speaking in an interview with CNN, Wozniak was asked about Apple's walled garden, which the company has long claimed protects its users' privacy and security.

Not too surprisingly, Wozniak defended the company he co-founded with Steve Jobs in 1976, replying that he's glad for the protections he has when it comes to privacy and not getting hacked. He claimed that Apple does a better job in these areas than other tech giants.

"And tracking you - tracking you is questionable. But my gosh, look at what we're accusing TikTok of, and then go look at Facebook and Google and that's how they make their businesses," he added. "I mean, Facebook was a great idea. But then they make all their money just by tracking you and advertising, and Apple doesn't really do that so much. I consider Apple the good guy."

Wozniak was then asked for his opinion on the proposed ban on TikTok. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was passed by Congress at the start of the month. If it comes into effect, Chinese owner ByteDance will be forced to divest TikTok within about six months; otherwise, the app will be blocked from app stores and web hosting platforms in the US. President Biden gave his blessing to the bill a few days later, though it's facing delays in the Senate.

TikTok could face a "civil penalty" of up to $5,000 per US user if it fails to comply with the Act's requirements. With up to 170 million such users, the fines could reach as high as $850 billion.

"I don't understand it [the proposed ban], I don't see why," Woz said, adding that he gets a lot of entertainment out of watching TikTok clips, such as those of dog rescues. "What are we saying? We're saying 'Oh, you might be tracked by the Chinese.' Well, they learned it from us."

Wozniak, who helped found the Electronic Frontier Foundation digital rights group, said the principle that someone should not be tracked online without their knowledge should be applied to every company. Singling out an organization such as TikTok because of its China links is "hypocrisy," according to Wozniak. "And that's always obviously common from a political realm."

It was recently revealed that one of the potential buyers of TikTok is controversial former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. He's reportedly interested in purchasing the app with help from OpenAI boss Sam Altman and others.

Speaking about the TikTok issues with ABC News' Rachel Scott, Vice President Kamala Harris said "We do not intend to ban TikTok. That is not at all the goal or the purpose of this conversation. We need to deal with the owner, and we have national security concerns about the owner of TikTok, but we have no intention to ban TikTok."