MrBeast has revealed he has an ‘offer ready’ to buy TikTok ahead of its proposed ban in the US later this week.
Time is ticking on whether or not TikTok is to survive in the United States as of Sunday (19 January) this week.
The prohibition on the social media platform comes after Congress passed a bipartisan bill in April last year, approved by President Joe Biden, to sell the app to a new owner or it would be shut down.
Federal officials argued the platform presents a ‘national security threat’ to the country due to its supposed links with China.
Officials allege ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, has access to the data of approximately 170 million users in the US, putting that data at risk if China asks the company to hand it over.
The deadline to sell falls on 19 January – just one day before Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as the new president.
Millions of TikTokers have been protesting the ban, arguing that it would devastate the lucrative creator economy that depends on it – and thousands more have been racing to alternative platforms like RedNote, another short-form video app from China.
Yet while the deadline is inching nearer with just three days to go, there is hope yet as famous YouTuber, MrBeast said on Twitter this week: “Okay fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.”
With more than 340 million subscribers, the 26-year-old star, whose real name is James Stephen ‘Jimmy’ Donaldson, he has the most subscribers of any YouTube channel and is the third-most-followed creator on TikTok.
The host of ‘Beast Games’, he is known for staging elaborate challenges and giving away eye-watering sums of money to strangers.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the YouTuber has a whopping net worth of approximately $1 billion, meaning he has a better chance than most at being able to afford the app, though many people considered his ‘offer’ was a joke.
Hours later since his Tweet went viral, he followed up: “Unironically I’ve had so many billionaires reach out to me since I tweeted this, let’s see if we can pull this off.”
Now, a suited and booted MrBeast appears to be taking his proposal seriously as he posted an update to TikTok that he actually has an offer prepared and ready to go.
In the 12-second clip, he said: “Just got out of a meeting with a bunch of billionaires, TikTok, we mean business.”
He didn’t reveal much from there such as who with billions of dollars could be involved in the apparent rescue mission, but the star did seem to have legal counsel.
@mrbeast TikTok check your inbox 👀 @TikTok
Pointing to a man with a briefcase in the video, MrBeast continues: “This is my lawyer right here. We have an offer ready for you. We wanna buy the platform.”
Meanwhile, a slideshow from the meeting was still visible in the background, which also read: “How we buy TikTok”.
The potential problem MrBeast could come up against is if ByteDance doesn’t want to sell or won’t agree to any such sale whatsoever.
But the YouTuber pleaded: “America deserves TikTok. Give me a seat at the table.
“Let me save this platform, TikTok.”
He also captioned the video: “TikTok check your inbox.”
His followers were quick to celebrate the development on TikTok, writing: “Save us all MrBeast” and calling him ‘the GOAT’.
