MrBeast claims he's ready to buy TikTok

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January 19 looms ever closer, and so does your last chance to scroll through the curated FYP you’ve built with your blood, sweat, and precious personal data. Well, it will be your last chance unless the Supreme Court drastically changes tack (unlikely) or a very rich mogul swoops in to buy it at the 11th hour. According to himself, MrBeast—the YouTuber known for selling moldy Lunchables and running a real-life Squid Game knockoff almost as dangerous as the TV version—may be that angel investor. All of which makes perfect sense. Would it kill the person writing this chapter of our simulation to add a little nuance here and there?

“Just got out of a meeting with a bunch of billionaires. TikTok, we mean business,” the YouTuber said in a video posted on the soon-to-be-dead platform. “We have an offer ready for you. We want to buy the platform. America deserves TikTok.” In a touch straight out of The Boys, eagle noises play in the background while he makes his plea—which, again, makes perfect sense. 

MrBeast says he just got out of a meeting to buy TikTok. pic.twitter.com/EOV3QKbZbc

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) January 15, 2025

Who knows if this will actually work, but in the wake of an attempt from Shark Tank‘s Kevin O’Leary and an emphatic statement from the company that rumors of an Elon Musk takeover were “pure fiction,” it doesn’t seem super likely. MrBeast originally expressed interest in purchasing the app earlier this week, writing, “Unironically I’ve had so many billionaires reach out to me since I tweeted this, let’s see if we can pull this off.”

All joking aside, anyone who wants to hold onto their scrolling addiction may want to cross their fingers that MrBeast’s offer actually goes through. If the ban passes the Supreme Court, the app will be gone gone for U.S. users—not just unavailable to download from the app store, as the actual legislature mandates.  This comes from Reuters, which specifies that TikTok parent company ByteDance’s plan is to send U.S. users a popup message directing them to a site with information about the ban, should they try to open the app after the 19th. The company also plans to offer users an option to download all their personal data. That means the videos of your pets or your friends dancing may still be accessible, but you should probably screenshot any recipes, memes, or travel tips you want to save. In the meantime, why not go learn some Mandarin over on RedNote? Or, even better, just turn your phone off and take a walk outside.