Billionaire Frank McCourt Says His Bid For TikTok Will Make It Safer for Kids [Video]

Frank H. McCourt Jr. made his fortune in real estate development and now says he wants to rebuild the Internet in hopes of making it a safer space, especially for kids.

McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and a father of seven, invested $500 million into his initiative Project Liberty, which has developed a framework social media apps can operate on (known as a decentralized social networking protocol, or DSNP) that is designed to protect users’ privacy. And after Congress passed a bill in April requiring U.S. TikTok to shut down or sell, the group is sponsoring a bid to buy the American arm of the company.

McCourt, 70, talked to PEOPLE in this week’s issue (on stands Aug. 2) about his vision for a new Net, laid out in a recent book he wrote with journalist Michael J. Casey, Our Biggest Fight.

What do you feel is wrong with the current Internet?The internet has become surveillance-based. …