MrBeast is offering to buy TikTok to save it from being banned in the US

Has TikTok finally found its saviour from being banned in MrBeast? The popular YouTuber says he has an offer to buy the platform—and he’s serious.

Jimmy Donaldson, more famously known by his internet moniker “MrBeast”, is known for videos where he gives away money, hosts a competition with a big cash prize, or does something utterly uncomfortable. He staged his very own Squid Game before Netflix did, was buried alive for 50 hours, and held a competition with young and old people with a cash prize of USD 500,000 for the winner. 

But he may be on the cusp of pulling his greatest stunt yet. Just a few days before TikTok is set to be banned in the US, MrBeast has revealed that he has an offer ready to buy TikTok—and he’s not playing around.

[Hero image: MrBeast/Facebook]

Saved? MrBeast has an offer to buy TikTok

Americans are bracing themselves for the looming ban on TikTok after a law signed in April ordered its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell the app to an American company or cease operations. Many TikTokers in the US have since migrated to another app called Red Note, another Chinese app, which recently shot to the #1 spot as the most downloaded app in the US.

The deadline given to ByteDance is January 19, which means that if nothing happens, the social media app will be taken down from the App Store and Google Play store. MrBeast tweeted on January 14 that he would buy TikTok so that it didn’t get banned. It was most likely like a joke, but the next day, he tweeted that billionaires had called him up to seriously consider it.

“Let’s see if we can pull this off,” he tweeted.

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 (@MrBeast) January 14, 2025

The content creator then posted a video on his TikTok and Instagram revealing he has an offer ready for ByteDance to buy TikTok and save it from being banned. “TikTok, we mean business,” MrBeast said in the video. “We have an offer ready for you. We wanna buy the platform. America deserves TikTok!”

“Give me a seat at the table. Let me save this platform,” he said at the end. 

It seems like he’s serious about his pitch. Whether ByteDance will, ahem, bite or not remains to be seen. There’s a possibility MrBeast may not need to buy the platform at all. According to a report by The Washington Post,  President-elect Donald Trump is considering stopping a shutdown of the app though lawmakers are unsure how he’ll do that. 

The other possibility that others like CNN have floated? Elon Musk buying the app, which may just hasten the migration of “TikTok refugees” if it ever happens. 

We’ll see what happens come January 19.