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American real estate billionaire Frank McCourt is reportedly thinking about purchasing the social media platform TikTok.
McCourt is best known as the former owner of the LA Dodgers, while also owning foreign football clubs and other businesses, according to France24. McCourt’s recent focus is on Big Tech, which he believes is hurting young people all over the world. In turn, this hurt is spilling over into all ages across society, and devolving us as a species. (LEARN MORE: State Economies Worse Due To Childcare Costs)
“We are being manipulated by these big platforms. And that’s why we see in free societies everywhere, there’s sort of the world on fire, right?” McCourt told AFP. He noted examples like the social, political upheavals in France. “There’s a lot of agitation, a lot of chaos, a lot of polarization. Well, you know what, the algorithms are working well. They’re keeping us in that constant state. It’s time for change,” he added.
‘Predatory’
“This internet is predatory. It’s doing a lot of damage to kids. We see the anxiety, the depression, and an epidemic now of children taking their lives,” he continued, noting how his own seven children motivated him to take action on the threats posed by social media and technology.
“These platforms have hundreds of thousands of individual attributes about each of us. And it’s not just where we shop or what we like to eat or where we physically are present. It’s about how we think, how we emote, how we react, how we behave,” McCourt added. (LEARN MORE: US Facing 12 Million ‘Occupational Transitions,’ Experts Say)
TikTok Takeover?
The social media company that owns TikTok has until around the end of 2024 to either gets rid of its Chinese-owned interests or disappear from America altogether. McCourt is apparently thinking of purchasing the giant in order to foster his own online movement, which aims to help, not hurt, users.
“I hope that this TikTok issue will make that light bulb go off for people, and they’ll realize (that even on other platforms) their data is being scraped and shipped somewhere,” McCourt continued, noting the threats of American data being sold through TikTok. “Maybe it’s not going to China, but it’s going somewhere controlled by someone who has everything about you, and that’s not correct. That’s undemocratic.”
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