Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, announced that he is considering purchasing social media platform TikTok.
McCourt is working with investment bank Guggenheim Securities and law firm Kirkland & Ellis for the endeavor.
The acquisition is being organized through Project Liberty, which is “building a consortium to purchase TikTok and rearchitect the platform to put people in control of their digital identities and data,” according to a press release.
Technologists and academics are also involved in supporting a “more open, inclusive and responsible internet.”
McCourt said, “The foundation of our digital infrastructure is broken, and it’s time to fix it. We can, and must, do more to safeguard the health and well-being of our children, families, democracy and society. We see this potential acquisition as an incredible opportunity to catalyze an alternative to the current tech model that has colonized the internet.”
“By bringing leading academics, technologists, behavioral scientists, psychologists and economic experts together with community partners, parents and citizens, we believe we can preserve – and enhance – the TikTok experience by giving individuals and creators on the platform the value and control they deserve regarding who has access to their data and how it is used,” he continued. “This country has long been the global driver of ground-breaking innovation, and I encourage anyone who’s interested in reclaiming your data from Big Tech to engage with us and take a step forward to redefine the future of the internet for the people.”
David Clark, Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, DSNP Advisor, said that the “potential future” of the social media platform is driven by a “very different set of motivations than the ‘Big Tech’ providers.”
Several other individuals have voiced consideration for a TikTok purchase, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary, and others.
TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the United States after President Joe Biden signed a bill that requires parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform.
The lawsuit notes that TikTok has spent $2 billion in security measures to protect U.S. user data.
It adds that the Chinese government has “made clear that it would not permit a divestment of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States,” the lawsuit states, meaning that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would not allow the sale of the algorithm that highlights the platform’s success.
Content creators on the platform also filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government, claiming that the possible ban threatens First Amendment rights.