Frank McCourt, a billionaire from the United Stateswants to stay with TikTok. He maintains that his proposal is Rescuing the Internet from the clutches of the big platforms because it considers that these are destroying society and endangering children. With this possibility, the debate was put back on the agenda. The effect of social media on mental health of its users.
The businessman is the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team and in Europe it is owner of Olympique de Marseillewhich has among its fans – none other than – President Emmanuel Macron.
For years, McCourt warned that The power of technology is harmful. “We are being manipulated through these great platforms. And that is why we see that in free societies, everywhere, the world seems on fire,” the businessman told the AFP agency.
In this regard, he cited the situation in France, where the extreme right could prevail in the next parliamentary elections.
“There is a lot of agitation, a lot of chaos, a lot of polarization. You know what? The algorithms are working well. “We are constantly kept in this state. It is time for a change,” he argued.
McCourt said his first motivation to act was the “threat” that social networks represent for your children.
“This internet It is predatory. It is doing great harm to children. “We see anxiety, depression, and an epidemic of child suicide,” he warned.
To solve the problem, McCourt does campaign for a “new internet” that should take control of the networks away from large platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, or X, the former Twitter.
“These platforms have hundreds of thousands of our personal characteristics, about each one of us. And it’s not just where we shop or what we like to eat or where we are physically at any given time. “It is the way we think, get emotional, react or how we behave,” he added.
McCourt imagines a new internet which it describes as decentralized, where users control their own data, regardless of which social media app they are using.
The push
McCourt is not the only one who showed intentions to acquire the platform of Chinese origin. Talso the former US Treasury SecretarySteve Mnuchin, wants to present his offer.
These plans come after a law signed by President Joe Biden in April which gives TikTok 270 days to find a buyer outside of China or face a ban in the United States, for national security reasons. It is not yet clear whether TikTok will end up for sale.
The company is fighting in court American against the aforementioned law, and the Chinese government indicated that it will not accept the delivery of one of the most successful technology brands in the country.
“The US government’s concern is that the data of 170 million Americans sent to China“which, of course, represents a threat to national security,” McCourt said.
The billionaire hopes that The case of TikTok allows people to “realize” that other platforms also send their data “to other sites”.
“Maybe they won’t go to China, but (personal data) goes to other sites controlled by someone who has everything over you. And that’s not right. That’s undemocratic,” McCourt argued.
“Devastating effects”
Buying TikTok would give the McCourt’s project – known as Project Liberty– a new magnitude. It would unite many users, mainly young people, to its cause.
Project Liberty counts among its members Internet pioneer Tim Berners-Lee, as well as Jonathan Haidt, a professor at NYU whose latest book, “The Anxious Generation”argues that the effects of social networks on young people have been devastating.
In this battle that has TikTok at the center of the controversy, China had come out in defense of the social network. Obviously, he does not want to set a precedent where a Chinese company is forced in the future to sell one of its most valuable assets, including theThe algorithm that is the envy of its competitors. This issue was even discussed between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.
The popular platform is a reason for political and diplomatic dispute because the United States alleges that it can be used by the Chinese government for the purposes of espionage and propaganda. The company repeatedly denied any links with the Chinese government and assured that it never shared and will not share private data of American users with Beijing. The future of the platform in that country remains uncertain.
