US Business Tycoon Aims for TikTok Purchase

This announcement adds weight to the number of investors eyeing the benefits of a new federal mandate compelling TikTok’s Chinese parent company to put the platform up for sale or potentially fall under a banning order in the States.

Collaborating with investment banking titan Guggenheim Securities, McCourt’s initiative, dubbed Project Liberty, would bring about a transformational overhaul for the platform. Emphasising a move towards “people and data empowerment”, McCourt has said he will pivot TikTok’s ethos towards a more people-centric “design and purpose”.

Should the bid succeed, the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers owner pledges a radical restructuring, promising enhanced user agency over digital identities and data. Central to his vision is a migration towards an open-source protocol, fostering greater transparency in the platform’s operations.

Despite not being a user of the app himself, McCourt’s bid is driven by his businesses’ reliance on the platform. The move echoes his longstanding commitment to reshaping the internet landscape with robust data privacy safeguards, a mission championed through Project Liberty which is aimed at crafting a more secure digital sphere. 

Former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is among other investors looking at TikTok, yet it is only McCourt’s bid that pays specific attention to nurturing user-centric data governance.

However, ByteDance, TikTok’s umbrella company, has underlined that it does not intend to sell. Experts have also expressed doubt that the Chinese government would green-light such a transaction, not least because it would include TikTok’s recommendation engine behind the videos that appear on users’ pages.

No fan of centralized recommendation algorithms, McCourt has said he thinks ByteDance will eventually sell TikTok’s US operations.

ByteDance and TikTok mounted a legal offensive last week against a recent law threatening their US operations. In a parallel move this week, eight TikTok creators moved to challenge the law, asserting it infringes upon their constitutional right to free speech.

Know the risks

As investors and politicians work to control TikTok’s influence in the US, users worldwide are reminded of the Chinese firm’s data processing behaviours and the potential risks associated with the collection and sharing of sensitive data, particularly in the context of national security.

The key issues fall under the microscope next week at PrivSec Global, where experts will discuss the difficulties posed by the popular video platform.