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By Shannon Power
Pop Culture & Entertainment Reporter
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YouTube sensation MrBeast has joked about buying the social media app TikTok to stop its ban from going ahead in the U.S.
The video site is used by around 170 million Americans and has been fighting a law passed by Congress last year, ordering it to divest from its Chinese owner ByteDance by January 19 or be banned.
Newsweek contacted MrBeast's representatives by email on Tuesday morning for comment.
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Why It Matters
Congress passed a bill last year ordering TikTok to part ways with ByteDance, citing national security concerns by arguing Chinese owners could surveil and influence users in the U.S.
TikTok has attempted to fight the bill, including a petition to the Supreme Court, but in a January 10 sitting, the Court justices indicated they would likely uphold Congress' law.
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What We Know
Chinese officials are reportedly weighing up an option to sell part of the platform to Elon Musk, the owner of social media app X (formerly Twitter), in a bid to keep it running in the U.S., according to Bloomberg*.*
But now, MrBeast— given name Jimmy Donaldson—who is the highest-paid content creator on YouTube, has said he would be eager to buy TikTok to stop it getting banned. MrBeast has a reported annual salary of $54 million and holds the record for the most subscribers on YouTube, which he hopes to grow to 1 billion at some point.
"Okay fine, I'll buy Tik Tok so it doesn't get banned," MrBeast wrote on X on Tuesday, in a seemingly tongue-in-cheek post.
What People Are Saying
People on X reacted to MrBeast's offer in the replies to his post.
"Plz let it just go, the world is better without it," wrote @s_onthestreets.
"Save America from having to watch Instagram reels," commented @lazarbeam, referring to the likely platform alternative for people wanting to consume similar content.
"MrBeast not to be that guy but it's free in the App Store," joked @greg16676935420.
"Go halves with Elon 😂," added @mikjcal.
What's Next
TikTok has until January 19 to sell ByteDance's share of the platform to another buyer.
If it has not divested from ByteDance by that date, it would initially mean that the TikTok app will be unable to be updated or downloaded from an app store.
While it would likely remain active for a time in the U.S, without updates to the app, it would stop functioning altogether.
TikTok has also hinted it might shut down its operations altogether on January 19 to avoid any potential issues if the Supreme Court does not rule in its favor.
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