MrBeast has shared an update for his followers after declaring he would 'buy TikTok' to prevent it from being banned in the US.
Is TikTok really getting banned?
The Chinese company ByteDance has just four days left to sell TikTok or risk getting banned in the US due to allegations that the company is linked to the Chinese government.
Officials and lawmakers in the US have raised concerns that ByteDance 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.
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In fact, the US Justice Department has claimed TikTok poses 'a national-security threat of immense depth and scale' due to its parent company.
As a result, President Joe Biden signed a law last year which demanded that ByteDance sell, or TikTok would be shut down in the US. The deadline to sell falls on 19 January - just one day before Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as the new president.
ByteDance has responded by claiming the law is 'unconstitutional', but they have ruled out the possibility of a sale.
What has MrBeast said about the ban?
As millions of TikTok users express concerns over the loss of TikTok, MrBeast shared what seemed to be a joke tweet about how he'd save it.
On January 14, he posted: "Okay fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned."
With a net worth of approximately $1 billion, according to Celebrity Net Worth, the YouTuber has a better chance than most at being able to afford the app; but that doesn't mean ByteDance would agree to a sale.
Still, MrBeast indicated he was keen to move forward with the idea, as he shared an update on Twitter a few hours after his first post.
He wrote: "Unironically I’ve had so many billionaires reach out to me since I tweeted this, let’s see if we can pull this off."
MrBeast didn't reveal exactly which billionaires are involved in this apparent venture, but fans were quick to joke about what the content creator might do with the app.
"'I just bought TikTok and I'm giving it away to one lucky subscriber'," one Twitter user joked, in reference to some of MrBeast's viral challenges.
What will happen if TikTok isn't sold?
If the January 19 deadline comes and goes with no sale and the ban goes into effect, TikTok will no longer be available to download for new users.
Those who already have the app would still be able to access it, however new updates would not be available, meaning the app would likely become unusable over time.
As the ban continues to loom, TikTok users are familiarizing themselves with a new app, RedNote; another short-form video app also from China.
Topics: MrBeast, Technology, TikTok, YouTube, Social Media
Emily Brown