'I Am Open to Investing': Mark Cuban Announces Open Call for 'Anyone' Who Can Build a TikTok Alternative The billionaire entrepreneur says he's ready to support a viable alternative to TikTok on the AT Protocol.
By Erin Davis
Mark Cuban has been one of Bluesky's most vocal supporters in recent months. And now that the Supreme Court has upheld the TikTok ban, the billionaire entrepreneur is looking for something new.
"I appreciate everyone reaching out to me to try to come up with a TikTok alternative in case it closes," Cuban posted on TikTok this week. "Here's what I'm open to considering. There's an app called Bluesky and it's built on a thing called the AT Protocol in which you create your own servers, create your own apps, and it all connects together to the 26 or 27 million Bluesky users."
Bluesky is built on the AT Protocol, an open, decentralized network for building apps. The X alternative, which began as an independent research project within then-Twitter in 2019, became its own company in 2022. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was once on the board.
Cuban said if someone can build a TikTok alternative on the AT Protocol, they would have an immediate investor—himself.
"I would be open to investing and supporting anyone who creates a TikTok replacement built on the AT Protocol," Cuban continued. "So if you have that ability, let me know in the comments."
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Cuban asked interested candidates to "create an MVP," if possible, "a minimum viable product" so that he has something to see before investing.
"I think you'd have a whole lot of support," he added. "And, when you build on the AT Protocol it's extensible, so that means nobody can buy it nobody can just close it."
TikTokers flooded the comments ready to take on the task.
"NASA software engineer here," wrote on user. "If anyone wants to collab on this project let me know!"
"I'm a full-stack developer, I'm willing to work with other devs to get this done!"
According to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, Mark Cuban is worth just shy of $8 billion.
