“Okay, okay, I’ll buy TikTok”: MrBeast is ready to save TikTok from blocking in the US

Jimmy Donaldson, known on YouTube as MrBeast, is the highest paid content creator on YouTube with an annual income of $54 million. He also holds the record for the most subscribers, which he hopes to reach 1 billion. Donaldson responded to US regulators’ plan to shut down TikTok on January 19 with an ironic post on social network X: “Okay, fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.”

Jimmy Donaldson, known on YouTube as MrBeast. Image source: MrBeast

Last year, the US Congress passed a bill requiring TikTok to part ways with Chinese parent ByteDance, citing national security concerns and possible surveillance of US users. TikTok, its users and content creators believe the bill violates freedom of speech guaranteed by the US Constitution.

The government argues that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over American user data or use the platform to manipulate information. However, as TikTok notes, there is still no evidence of such actions. Even a month-long ban on TikTok would result in the loss of about a third of its daily audience and significant advertising revenue.

Short video service TikTok is currently used by about 170 million Americans, and it faces a choice: change ownership in the US by January 19 or be banned.

Given the current situation, it is not surprising that MrBeast’s humorous message went viral on the Internet. Moreover, the reaction of users is in a wide range – from warm support and advice to “buy TikTok in half with Elon Musk” to the opinion that the world will be better without TikTok.

Not only the country’s President-elect Donald Trump, but also some American parliamentarians are now insisting on postponing the entry into force of the law banning the social network TikTok in the United States, adopted in April. At the same time, TikTok management explained to its almost 7,000 employees in the United States that even if the platform is banned from January 19, they will continue to receive salaries and other compensation due.

Thus, TikTok management expresses hope that the ban on the service will be lifted under the new political leadership of the country. However, TikTok may cease operations completely on January 19 to avoid potential problems if the decision to postpone is not made.