American real estate billionaire and privacy activist Frank McCourt wants to take over TikTok’s U.S. operations. In the process, he hopes to transform the social media platform into a better, less addictive, and, above all, safer environment.
McCourt states in an interview with the New York Times that an eventual takeover of the well-known social media platform’s U.S. operations would make a big change. According to him, once these operations are acquired, TikTok should become less addictive, more privacy-oriented and less abusive.
TikTok may soon have to cease its U.S. operations after the Senate recently passed a bill to restrict the company’s actions and force a sale or ban. Operations may also continue, but the U.S. operations would have to be spun off from Chinese parent company ByteDance.
Tech activist
Frank McCourt is a well-known tech activist in the US. His main focus is on how data is used or abused, how privacy is often compromised, and especially how social media apps can cause mental issues for children. Obviously, TikTok is often one of his targets in this regard.
The real estate billionaire is also one of the founders of “Project Liberty”. This alliance of various tech specialists, scientists, lawyers and citizens hopes to create a “better Internet” together. The acquisition of TikTok was supposed to be one of the activities of this ecosystem.
Meanwhile, the real estate billionaire is said to have already made arrangements with banks to finance a possible acquisition of the social media platform
Not a done deal
A possible forced divestiture or even banning of TikTok is not yet a done deal. The U.S. government’s plan has been widely criticized, including for being more about censorship than China and national security.
While there is certainly interest in the social media platform from the U.S. tech sector, they also fear possible legal and competition lawsuits.
McCourt not interested in algorithm
McCourt himself says in the New York Times that he is not afraid of any problems that a potential takeover could bring. He emphasizes that he’s the only takeover candidate who does not care about the algorithm. He assumes that China’s ByteDance will sell the business without the social media platform’s underlying algorithm.
In his view, that is not a bad thing at all, because he is planning something completely different with TikTok. He wants to work with the platform on a new architecture, a new form of the Internet and how it works.
Read also: U.S. Senate passes bill potentially banning TikTok