Frank McCourt has announced his willingness to acquire American TikTok for $20 billion from investors. The businessman plans to implement a decentralized protocol and keep advertising in the application.
Businessman Frank McCourt, a potential buyer of TikTok in the US, has spoken about his plans for the platform, writes UNN with reference to Wired.
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The company sued, claiming that the law violates the First Amendment, but the judges sided with the Justice Department, agreeing that the federal government has the authority to block or force the sale of TikTok if it poses a risk to national security – even hypothetical.
The court’s decision leaves TikTok with little hope. A possible scenario is that US President-elect Donald Trump could find a way to “save” the beloved platform, something he promised to do during his campaign. But beyond a victory in the final Supreme Court appeal, which is far from guaranteed, finding a wealthy buyer in the US is a crucial moment for TikTok’s fate.
One of the most high-profile potential buyers to emerge so far is real estate mogul and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, who says he has received $20 billion in informal commitments from investors to buy the app in what he calls a “people’s bet.” The sale would support McCourt’s existing technology initiative Project Liberty and the so-called decentralized social media protocol it developed. McCourt wants to enable DSNP on TikTok and allow users to export their friends through other compatible apps.
Frank McCourt also shared plans to keep some form of advertising and give people control over their own recommendation algorithm.
“I think a lot has changed because until Friday there was just speculation about whether ByteDance would win. It all suddenly became very real, right?? Now there's the date of January 19th. Right now, we don't know what ByteDance will decide to do. We know they said they're going to appeal. That's out of our control. But as far as shutting it down or selling it, that's also up to them, and we just want to make sure they know there's a viable buyer interested in buying American TikTok without the algorithm,”— said Frank McCourt.