Frank McCourt criticized social media as an “epidemic” and advocated for a different model than TikTok’s algorithm.
McCourt, a US businessman aiming to acquire TikTok, expressed strong support for health warnings on social media similar to those on tobacco products, highlighting significant mental health risks for adolescents.
At the Collision tech conference in Toronto, Canada, he concurred with US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s New York Times op-ed, “Why I’m Calling for a Warning Label on Social Media Platforms.”
McCourt, the founder of McCourt Global, emphasized the responsibility of adults to protect future generations. He noted the growing attention to this issue by figures like the Surgeon General and urged collective action to create alternatives and reform technology.
In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents during a US Senate hearing, acknowledging Instagram’s role in their children’s suicides or exploitation. The hearing also included testimonies from CEOs of X, Snap, TikTok, and Discord.
Due to security concerns, President Joe Biden signed a law in April mandating TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell to a US-based buyer or face a ban.
McCourt, however, argued that merely changing ownership from China to another sovereign entity does not resolve the issue.
TikTok’s algorithm customizes video recommendations based on user interactions, but McCourt criticized this data-driven model. He proposed an alternative, the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), to give users control over their data and its economic value.
He envisions an internet where users have choice, a voice, and a stake, driven by user-centric algorithms and technology.
