Frank McCourt, the billionaire CEO of tech initiative Project Liberty, says he is preparing to buy TikTok. The platform’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is currently at the mercy of a “divest-or-sell” law. This law demands that TikTok give up its Chinese assets, or face a national ban in the United States.
What did Frank McCourt say about TikTok?
In an interview with Semafor, McCourt says he wants to build “a new and better version of the internet where individuals are respected and they own and control their identity and their data.”
He said: “TikTok presents the best and worst of the internet. It connects 170 million people and allows them to be creative and build things and enjoy things and do things. On the other hand, they don’t get to really share in the value that’s created, and their data is scraped and stolen and shipped to China.”
For TikTok, McCourt wants to mount the “people’s bid.” He made it clear that he would seek funding from a variety of sources including public support, endowments, foundations, and pension funds.
“We want all the capital to be values-aligned [around] a new and better version of the internet, where individuals are respected and they own and control their identity and their data,” he said.
What could possibly go wrong?
Further reading
- Now TikTok Creators Are Suing the U.S. Government Too
- It’s Official: TikTok Is Suing the U.S. Government
- Lawyers Are Rallying Creators for a Class Action Lawsuit to Save TikTok
- ByteDance Says It Won’t Sell TikTok
- President Biden Signs Bill Forcing TikTok Sale or Ban
- Dear President Biden: TikTokers Pen Open Letter to ‘Stop the Ban’
- Sell or Be Banned: Why the Latest Bill to Ban TikTok Won’t Solve the Problem
