YouTube star James “Jimmy” Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast, is the latest to throw his name into the TikTok ring. On X, the creator casually expressed his interest in buying the app to prevent an impending US ban.
He jokingly posted this on Monday: “Okay fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.” The post went viral, racking up millions of views.
But it soon turned (semi) serious as he followed it up with another post: “Unironically I’ve had so many billionaires reach out to me since I tweeted this, let’s see if we can pull this off.”
This comes as the US is set to ban TikTok this Sunday, January 19th. The ban, which prohibits new downloads and US companies from providing services to the app, has been a long time coming.
Aside from MrBeast, Elon Musk has also emerged as a potential buyer for TikTok’s US operations. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump reportedly considered an executive order to delay the ban, although it is unclear how this could be done legally.
While a complete acquisition by MrBeast might seem far-fetched, his tweets have sparked a conversation about the future of TikTok in the US. With the deadline looming, the next few days will be crucial for the popular video-sharing platform.
Stay tuned for updates as this story unfolds.
Featured image from Pexels
