Another investor is expressing interest in a plan to purchase TikTok, less than two weeks before the social media platform could be banned in the United States.

Kevin O'Leary, known as "Mr. Wonderful" on the reality television series "Shark Tank," announced on Monday that he is joining billionaire Frank McCourt in a plan to purchase TikTok.

Last spring, President Joe Biden signed legislation into law that would require TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app by Jan. 19. If ByteDance fails to do so, TikTok will be banned in the U.S., no longer available to download from app stores and unavailable to access on internet browsers.

McCourt, founder of Project Liberty and executive chairman of McCourt Global, announced in December that he was building a group of associates to purchase TikTok. McCourt's consortium, led by Project Liberty, is called "People's Bid for TikTok." The project wants to allow users the opportunity to access and manage their own data. McCourt has claimed he has received verbal commitments totaling up to $20 billion for the purchase, according to the Project Liberty website.

O'Leary said in an interview with Fox News Monday that he and McCourt will need to work with President-elect Donald Trump for the purchase to be a success. In recent weeks, Trump asked the Supreme Court, which will review the ban on Friday, to pause the legislation, as he wants a chance to save it. Trump will be sworn into office on Jan. 20, one day after the ban is to be put into place.

TikTok's main argument of the legislation is that the ban is censorship, a breach of American's first amendment rights. However, government officials who favor the ban fear that TikTok may be sharing American data with the Chinese government and believe a potential national security threat outweighs the first amendment.

"This isn’t just about buying TikTok’s U.S. assets," O'Leary said in a statement on X on Monday. "It’s about something much bigger: protecting the privacy of 170 million American users. It’s about empowering creators and small businesses. And it’s about building a platform that prioritizes people over algorithms."

Neither Project Liberty nor O'Leary immediately responded to USA TODAY's request for comment on Tuesday.

Who is Kevin O'Leary?

O'Leary, 70, is a Canadian politician and businessman, popularly known as one of the hosts of ABC reality series "Shark Tank." He is also the chairman of O'Leary Ventures, a capital investment platform, and chairman of Beanstox, an investment service.

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at [email protected].