US officials and lawmakers have expressed worries that ByteDance could access the data from around 170 million US users, posing a risk if the Chinese government demands access to this information.
The US Justice Department has even suggested that TikTok presents ‘a national-security threat of immense depth and scale’ because of its parent company.
Consequently, President Joe Biden enacted legislation requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a shutdown in the US. The deadline is set for January 19, a day before Donald Trump is due to be inaugurated as the new president.
ByteDance has argued that the law is ‘unconstitutional’ and has ruled out the possibility of selling TikTok.
In response to the concerns of millions of TikTok users, MrBeast jokingly tweeted about his willingness to save the platform.
On January 14, he tweeted: “Okay fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.”
With an estimated net worth of $1 billion, according to Celebrity Net Worth, MrBeast has a greater chance than most to purchase the app, though it’s uncertain if ByteDance would consider selling.
MrBeast showed enthusiasm for the idea, updating his Twitter followers a few hours later.
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.”
While he didn’t specify which billionaires were involved, fans quickly joked about what MrBeast might do with TikTok.
One Twitter user quipped, “‘I just bought TikTok and I’m giving it away to one lucky subscriber’,” referencing MrBeast’s famous challenges.
If the January 19 deadline passes without a sale, causing the ban to take effect, TikTok would become unavailable for new downloads in the US.
Current users could still access the app, but without updates, it would eventually become obsolete.
As the potential ban approaches, TikTok users are exploring RedNote, another short-form video app also originating from China.