Frank McCourt said he believes social media is an “epidemic” and that a different model should be built than TikTok's algorithm.
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The US businessman who is vying to buy TikTok said he strongly supports calls for social media to carry health warnings like tobacco products, describing it as an “epidemic that is causing significant harm to the mental health of young people”.
Speaking at the Collision Technology Conference in Toronto, Canada on Monday, Frank McCourt said he agrees with U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's New York Times op-ed, “Why We Need Warning Labels on Social Media Platforms.”
“Clearly our responsibility as adults is to protect the next generation,” the McCourt Global founder said.
“Our Surgeon General is looking at this issue. Many others are doing the same. I think this movement is happening even as we sit here.”
“I want you all to participate because this is what we need to change the situation and create this alternative. We have to improve our technology,” McCourt said.
The American Psychological Association said in a 2019 study that between 2008 and 2017, when social media use among young people soared, the percentage of young people experiencing suicidal thoughts or other suicide-related outcomes increased by 47%.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents who said his company's platform, Instagram, contributed to child suicide and exploitation during a US Senate hearing in January that also heard testimony from X CEO Linda Yaccarino, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, TikTok CEO Shaw Zoo Chu, and Discord CEO Jason Citron.
U.S. President Joe Biden signed legislation in April banning TikTok unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, finds a U.S.-based buyer, citing security concerns.
“We believe that simply replacing Chinese control and funding with the control and funding of other sovereign nations will not solve anything,” McCourt said.
TikTok's algorithm recommends personalized videos based on what users watch and like, but McCourt said this model of control over users' personal information is harmful.
“We believe in a different model of migrating people to this new protocol, which is called DSNP (Decentralized Social Networking Protocol, or an open protocol),” he said.
“Let's allow the use of our data so we have agency again and we have economic value. Choice, voice, stake – that's what I think the internet should be about. And then we build the algorithms and we leverage the technology.”
