TikTok is officially live chopping blockFriend.
Last Friday, a federal appeals court upheld a law that could result in the app being banned from operating within the United States next month. Even if President Joe Biden decides to extend that deadline by an additional 90 days, TikTok is still on a pretty tight timeline to find its way out of this mess.
Earlier this year, I spoke to Frank McCourt for this newsletter About his bid to buy TikTok. After the events of last week, I thought it was a good time to talk to him again. Plus, I got some insight into how creators are preparing for a post-TikTok future.
let's talk about it.
At this time there are three options left for TikTok. The company may win the appeal, forget all about it, and get back to business as usual (eventually). App ban may come next year or, someone with a lot of money may do this Buy TikTok's US business Out of ByteDance. Wednesday afternoon, my coworker zeyi yang And I talked to Frank McCourt, the billionaire former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who wants to do the same.
McCourt's motivation isn't just to save TikTok but to promote a personal project of his. Through their Project Liberty initiative, they have brought together a variety of investors and groups to share their vision of a more open web in what they call “the people's voice.” To achieve this, they will implement Project Liberty's Decentralized Social Networking Protocol, or DSNP, on TikTok. The protocol will allow users to export their friends and followers to a new TikTok. And after Friday's court ruling, McCourt is more confident than ever that his team will soon have the app running and possibly rebuilt.
In our conversation, McCourt argued that the sale would make everyone happy, including ByteDance, users, and the US government. McCourt has expressed interest in paying $20 billion for the app's brand, its user base and existing content to enhance his vision of an interoperable, more privacy-friendly Internet that competes with companies like Meta and Google. He says he doesn't “need or want” the algorithms that run TikTok's For You page.
Asked whether Project Liberty could maintain TikTok's existing userbase without the beloved algorithm, McCourt said, “People don't know what they don't have until you show them.”