Summary
- MrBeast expressed interest in saving TikTok from the US ban and a group of billionaires is discussing making it happen.
- TikTok’s potential sale is complicated by ByteDance’s reluctance and potential Chinese government intervention, but discussions are ongoing.
- Concerns over TikTok’s data sharing with China prompted the ban, but the feasibility of the app’s sale and a US-based takeover is uncertain.
MrBeast reportedly wants to save TikTok from being banned in the US, and a number of billionaires have apparently been in talks with the entrepreneur about making it a reality. The clock is ticking for TikTok in the US, and a number of figures are looking into ways to prevent its ban from happening.
TikTok is outrageously popular, but that popularity and the origins of the app have raised concerns among lawmakers, ultimately resulting in President Biden signing a bill back in April 2024 regarding the app. The bill made it so that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, would either need to shut down the app’s operations in the United States or sell the US portion of its business. While ByteDance hasn’t recently seemed interested in selling, as the Tiktok ban deadline is now approaching, many have discussed ways to try and prevent the app’s shutdown.
Related
A TikTok Clone is Skyrocketing in Popularity
Amid fears of a TikTok ban in the US, thousands of content creators and users are flocking to another Chinese social media app.
MrBeast sent out a tweet on January 14, casually musing that he’d buy the app in order to save it from being shut down on January 19, the deadline of the law. Some of MrBeast’s fans may have thought it was a joke, and it’s possible that MrBeast intended it to be purely tongue-in-cheek. However, since then, he’s posted another tweet, saying that multiple billionaires have been in touch with him regarding making the idea an actual reality. While he refrained from mentioning any of them by name, the popular YouTuber says that he’s now looking into actually making it happen.
Could MrBeast Save TikTok?
In theory, if TikTok’s US operations were under the control of a United States-based entity, it’s likely that the app could be allowed to continue operating in the States. The main reason behind the ban is due to concerns of the US government that information shared via the app – whether intentional on the part of the user or not – could theoretically be shared with the Chinese government, or be utilized to fuel misinformation. According to the DOJ, this allegedly includes information harvested by TikTok from underage minors. However, the biggest issue is whether the app is even up for sale.
Although there have been many discussions of potentially buying out the app, it’s not clear if it would actually happen, even if there were a lot of money in the offer. ByteDance’s lawyer, Noel Francisco, reportedly reiterated that the app is not for sale and that any attempts to sell it would likely be blocked by the Chinese government. In the past, ByteDance was interested in selling its stake in TikTok to avoid a ban, but that seems to have changed. The notion of MrBeast and a number of billionaires pooling their money and resources to purchase the app is an interesting idea, but it remains to be seen if ByteDance – and possibly the Chinese government – can be swayed to agree to a deal.
