How Perplexity newsjacked the TikTok ban using fake M&A PR Hack

On January 18, 2025, Perplexity, the AI-powered search engine, submitted a bid to merge with TikTok. The offer landed during a week of M&A hysteria.

Perplexity didn't have billions. They likely didn't have 1% of TikTok's asking price.

But for 48 hours, they weren't a "startup." They were a contender.

Most founders fear looking stupid. Consequently, they write boring press releases about version 2.1 updates. Perplexity proved that looking slightly unhinged is a valid trick to get attention.

The mechanics of a fake acquisition bid

The strategy relies on "anchoring upward."

Perplexity took a massive news event, the potential TikTok ban, and inserted themselves as the solution.

It didn't matter that the deal was impossible. The mere existence of the bid forced people to compare Perplexity to TikTok.

The news got a lot of comments on Hacker News.

Users debated the logistics. One comment summed it up perfectly: "The 'incredible free PR for almost no effort or money' pretend-merge."

Another user noted the real-world impact. "My dad (80 years old) just called yesterday to tell me about this cool new app he found—Perplexity. So I guess the PR is working."

That is the metric. Not deal flow. Brand awareness.

Satire as a customer acquisition strategy

Sometimes you don't even need to send the press release yourself. You just need to lean into the joke.

While Netflix was negotiating that $72 billion deal for Warner Bros, The Onion ran a satirical headline: "Plex Submits $35 Bid For Warner Bros."

It was obviously fake. The Onion is a comedy site. However, the internet treated it like a rallying cry.

The "offer" went viral on Reddit's /r/piracy and all social media sites like X (Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram. Users didn't care that Plex hadn't actually submitted the paperwork. They loved the attitude despite being done by a fake news site.

The narrative was perfect: the scrappy media server fighting the corporate consolidation of Warner Bros.

Plex got the benefits of a major M&A announcement. They got press, social mentions, and signups. And they did it without spending a dollar or talking to a single lawyer.

Parody meme campaign that generated 217x returns

You can miniaturize this strategy for influencer marketing.

Quittr, an addiction recovery app, skipped the fake M&A bid. Instead, they launched a direct meme attack.

They paid an influencer $100 to post a meme calling for the giant platform to shut down. It wasn't subtle. It was a frontal assault on a controversial giant.

The results were massive:

• Ad spend: $100

• Revenue generated: $21,758

• ROI: 217x

They hijacked the feed by targeting the company everyone loves to hate. It stopped the scroll because it broke the pattern. Then it converted the exact users (the addicts) looking for a way out.

Why audacity works as a distribution channel

The internet has a boredom filter.

Safe marketing gets filtered out. We ignore "comprehensive solutions" and "integrated workflows."

Audacity penetrates the filter.

When Perplexity bids for TikTok, or The Onion claims Plex bid $35 for Warner Bros, it creates a narrative violation. It breaks our mental model of how business works. We share it because it's funny. But we remember it because it's bold.

This drives down CAC. You aren't paying for impressions. You are earning them through entertainment value.

Your step-by-step guide to viral stunts

You don't need a legal team to pull this off. You need a news cycle and a sense of humor.

Here's the simple playbook:

1. Pick a competitor 10-100x your size. It must target a giant, not a peer. David vs Goliath situation.

2. Make an impossible claim that is obviously absurd.

3. Frame it as satire or underdog positioning.

4. Then, target the thing everyone hates about them.

For example, when Cloudflare has yet another outage taking down half the internet with them, Railway, an actual underdog, can announce they're acquiring Cloudflare with a promise to actually test in production.

The funnier the jab, the faster it spreads.

Perplexity never bought TikTok. Plex never bought Warner Bros for $35. But they both bought a permanent slot in our head for free, and they paid nothing for that real estate.

Top Tweets of the day

1/

From a private equity perspective, this is a poorly run business and can use some Elon-esque mass firing.

But since it's a privately owned company, you can do whatever you want. Some founders' #1 goal is to just feed as many families as possible.

2/

This should be a product to take expertise from humans and allow AI to learn your entire org culture.

Most experts cannot articulate properly. It's an extremely highly valuable skill.

And it requires insane amounts of practice.

3/

Such a badass idea!

I feel like the next decade of companies will have mascots in their marketing channel too or AI avatars in their marketing channel just like they used to be in animated movies like Sid and Buck in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Duolingo with Duo proved that it can strike gold. Cluely's mascot Cleue The Fox failed but the idea has potential when executed properly.

Rabbit Holes

1. Elon Musk explains his 5-step algorithm for running companies

2. Prompt design strategies

3. How to Find and Use Competitor Keywords

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