News

Frank McCourt (US onAir post) is a civic entrepreneur and the executive chairman of McCourt Global, a private family company committed to building a better future through its work across the real estate, sports, technology, media, and capital investment industries, as well as its significant philanthropic activities.

From McCourt Global website:

Frank McCourt has served on Georgetown University’s Board of Directors for many years and, in 2013, made a $100 million founding investment to create Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. He expanded on this in 2021 with a $100 million investment to catalyze an inclusive pipeline of public policy leaders and put the school on a path to becoming tuition-free.

He is a passionate supporter of multiple academic, civic, and cultural institutions and initiatives. He is the founder of Project Liberty, a far-reaching, $500 million initiative focused on leading a movement of people who want to take back control of their lives in the digital age by reclaiming a voice, choice, and stake in a better internet. The project includes the development of a groundbreaking, open-source internet protocol called the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), a piece of digital public infrastructure which will serve as the bedrock of a more equitable web and support a new era of innovation that empowers people over platforms and serves the common good. Project Liberty also includes the Project Liberty Institute, launched with founding partners Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA, and ETH in Zurich, to advance research, bring together technologists and social scientists, and develop a governance model for the internet’s next era.

Below are video interviews and articles about Frank McCourt’s plans for Project Liberty, the DSNP, and his consortium to buy the US arm of TikTok.

Businessman Frank McCourt says company working to be in position to buy TikTok amid ban threat
Face the Nation, Margaret Brennan – December 8, 2024 (07:14)

OUR BIGGEST FIGHT: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age (book)
Book website

“a galvanizing call to action for a tech revolution that empowers people over platforms and accelerates a new internet”

“a resounding call to action for building a healthier and more equitable internet that frees users from Big Tech’s exploitation, recognizes individuals’ rights to their data, safeguards children and prioritizes the common good”

Meet Frank McCourt, The Billionaire Trying To Buy TikTok
Forbes Breaking News – May 15, 2024 (36:17)

Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty advances bid for TikTok
Axios, Sara Fischer – December 5, 2024

Project Liberty, founded by billionaire Frank McCourt, has pulled together participants for a consortium of investors interested in pursuing a “peoples bid” for TikTok, McCourt told Axios.

Why it matters: A U.S. court has until January 19 to decide whether TikTok should be banned if it does not find a U.S. buyer.

• With Big Tech under record antitrust scrutiny, a wealthy U.S. investor group could be a plausible buyer for the app — which could be worth anywhere from $20 billion to $100 billion, depending on how the U.S. part of the business is split from its parent.

State of play: McCourt launched Project Liberty, which includes both a for-profit company and a non-profit institute, in 2021 to help build and advocate for a safer and more equitable internet. He announced his intentions to assemble an investor group to buy the app in May.

• Participants in Project Liberty’s investor group, who are not yet being disclosed, have made informal commitments of more than $20 billion of capital, a spokesperson said.
• Project Liberty has held conversations with a diverse set of stakeholders across the financial, business and investment sectors and will begin an investor roadshow early next week in New York City and San Francisco.

Of note: Project Liberty says that its bid has the support of several internet pioneers, including World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory senior research scientist David Clark.

• The group is working in consultation with Guggenheim Securities, the investment banking and capital markets business of Guggenheim Partners, and Kirkland & Ellis, a global law firm, on its bid.

Between the lines: McCourt believes Project Liberty “is uniquely positioned to assume stewardship of TikTok” because of the tech and governance protocols it has built to prioritize user privacy and safety.

• “This landmark acquisition would catalyze our long committed desire to usher in the era of an upgraded internet — one that prioritizes safety, democracy, and civil discourse,” McCourt told Axios in a statement.
• “The technology we are building respects individuals by returning to them ownership and control of their identity and their data, not by surveilling them.”
• “This is possible because we’re not influenced by foreign actors, we’re not beholden to Big Tech, and we’ve built the necessary technology that can support this powerful platform loved by more than 170 million Americans.”

Zoom in: Alongside its research and policy efforts, Project Liberty has also developed its own blockchain-based, decentralized web infrastructure to make social media safer and more secure.

• In 2022, MeWe, a free and subscription-based social media platform that bills itself as a privacy-focused alternative to Facebook, became the first social network to launch using Project Liberty’s decentralized social networking protocol (DSNP).

Yes, but: McCourt and other interested bidders may be eager to get their hands on TikTok, but the Chinese government has pushed back aggressively against the idea of selling it.

• Congress passed a bill in April that President Biden signed into law requiring TikTok parent ByteDance to divest the U.S. arm of the app or face a ban.
• TikTok has filed a legal challenge of the law.
• President-elect Trump, who has reversed his position on TikTok and now says he doesn’t support a ban, could try to get a Republican-led Congress to repeal the law or pressure the DOJ not to enforce a ban.

Advancing Data Agency: A Vision for Digital Infrastructure in the AI Era
Project Liberty, Sarah nicole – December 17, 2024

How Can Governments Catalyze Positive Digital Infrastructure Innovation?”

Data is the lifeblood of the digital economy, shaping who benefits from technological progress. The report underscores how digital infrastructure—including identity systems, payment platforms, and data exchanges—can transform sectors by enhancing accessibility, efficiency, and sustainability. However, market concentration among dominant tech platforms raises critical questions about competition, individual control, and equity.

Governments are uniquely positioned to act as both regulators and market shapers, driving innovation while ensuring a fair distribution of digital power. By establishing standards, investing in infrastructure, and fostering open ecosystems under robust governance frameworks, governments can pave the way for inclusive growth and trust in technology.

One of the report’s central themes is the call for governments to push the adoption of decentralized, transparent, and inclusive frameworks to prevent more extractive, centralized digital models. Key global frameworks such as the UN’s Global Digital Compact and the G20’s Digital Public Infrastructure principles provide a solid starting point. Yet, challenges remain in harmonizing definitions, enabling interoperability, and reconciling regional differences.

Project Liberty, WeAre8, and Frequency Network Foundation Partner to Ignite a People-First Social Media Revolution

Building on their shared mission to give people control of their digital lives, Project Liberty, Frequency Network Foundation, and WeAre8 are transforming social media through the Frequency blockchain, empowering people with ownership, transparency, and the freedom to engage in a healthier, fairer digital world

Project Liberty, Frequency Network Foundation, and WeAre8, a transformational social media platform, today announced a collaboration that will accelerate their innovative, people-first digital solutions, delivering a more transparent and economically beneficial social media experience. Project Liberty, Frequency Network Foundation and WeAre8 have built digital experiences that prioritizes individual empowerment, economic fairness, and genuine digital interactions, breaking away from Big Tech’s profit-driven algorithms – and together are embarking on the next phase of this revolution.

This collaboration marks a major milestone toward putting control of our digital experiences back into the hands of the people. WeAre8 plans to integrate with the Frequency blockchain, which will allow users to benefit from increased financial value and regain control of their digital identity. This revolutionary internet infrastructure was developed by the Frequency Network Foundation and Project Liberty.

“WeAre8 is living proof that a digital world free from Big Tech’s addictive algorithms can be amazing,” said Frank McCourt, Founder of Project Liberty. “By placing power back in the hands of people, individuals can control their own experiences and benefit financially from their interactions with content. Project Liberty is honored to join forces with WeAre8 as we usher in a new digital era of people’s platforms powered by a people’s internet.”

“This collaboration with Project Liberty marks a pivotal moment for a reimagined digital world that serves the people and supports the planet,” said Zoe Kalar, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of WeAre8. “We have transformed social media by eliminating toxic content, removed algorithms so people can reach all their followers with every post, and built a transformational economic model where the ad revenues are shared with people. Project Liberty brings all our citizens another layer of independence, protection and freedom and we are excited about what our partnership means for people when we are all truly free from big tech control.”

A transformational feature of WeAre8 is its commitment to redistributing wealth back into the hands of people through its business model: 60% of its ad revenue is returned directly to citizens (users), charities, creators, and planet-impact projects. Unlike traditional platforms that force advertising into people’s feeds and encourage endless scrolling,  WeAre8 separates the ads from the feeds, enabling people to discover and even link off-platform from feed posts, while giving them choice on when they watch ads. And people are happy to watch them when they are valued. Every ad dollar is shared with people for every completed ad view, empowering them to direct these funds toward community initiatives, charitable causes, mobile bills, subscriptions or their personal needs.

For more information about WeAre8, visit here. For more information about Project Liberty, visit here. For more information about Frequency, visit here.

Below are links to Diamandis’ list of significant breakthroughs:

OpenAI’s o1 Measured at 120 IQ – Shatters Record

The Humanoid Robot Revolution: Optimus & Figure

Google’s Quantum Leap: The Willow Revolution

Colossus Unleashed: Musk’s xAI Supercharges the AI Race with World’s Most Powerful Cluster

First Complete Map of a Brain that Could Unlock Ours

SpaceX’s Starship Historic Landing Using “Chopsticks”

Neuralink’s Blindsight: Curing Blindness & Much More

Starlink: 7,000+ Satellites Enabling Global Connectivity

$101M XPRIZE HEALTHSPAN for 20+ Healthy Years of Life

AI-designed Proteins Revolutionize Drug Discovery

Published by Crown Publishing Group, civic entrepreneur Frank McCourt joins forces with journalist Michael Casey to present a galvanizing call to action for a tech revolution that empowers people over platforms and accelerates a new internet era.

On March 12, 2024, Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, will publish OUR BIGGEST FIGHT: Reclaiming Liberty, Humanity, and Dignity in the Digital Age—a resounding call to action for building a healthier and more equitable internet that frees users from Big Tech’s exploitation, recognizes individuals’ rights to their data, safeguards children and prioritizes the common good—from Frank H. McCourt, Jr., and acclaimed journalist, Michael J. Casey.

The internet was once a utopian dream. And its impact has transformed how we live, learn, work and communicate. Despite its conveniences and connectivity, today’s internet is causing real harm and is the primary cause of a pervasive unease that has taken hold in the U.S. and other democratic societies. Instead of driving progress and collaboration, its dominant platforms are fueling a youth mental health crisis, polluting public discourse with misinformation and toxicity, eroding trust and undermining our most important institutions. Left unchecked, the internet in its current, highly centralized form—dominated by a handful of Big Tech giants that feed on our data—threatens to destabilize societies, democracies and human interaction at every level. And it will get exponentially more harmful in the age of artificial intelligence. McCourt and Casey explain how we can get off this destructive path and seize this most urgent of moments to build an internet that serves society’s needs.

For decades, thought leaders and policy experts have weighed in with suggestions for fixing the internet’s ills, mostly through top-down regulation. What sets McCourt and Casey apart is their relentless focus on the need to innovate our way forward and address the problem at its roots, starting with the web’s underlying infrastructure. Inspired by historical calls to action like Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, OUR BIGGEST FIGHT depicts a set of compelling parallels between the American revolution and the need for a similar action today to throw off the shackles of Big Tech. Now is the time, McCourt and Casey argue, to embed the core values of a free, democratic society in the internet of tomorrow.

McCourt is the executive chairman of McCourt Global, a private family company committed to building a better future and extending the McCourt family’s 130-year legacy of developing infrastructure and merging community and social impact with financial results through its work across the real estate, sports & media, technology and capital investment industries, as well as its significant philanthropic activities. Named one of the Top 50 Philanthropists in the U.S. by The Chronical of Philanthropy, McCourt is the foundational donor of Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy. As a fifth-generation builder, he’s wary of Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” ethos and, as a father of seven, concerned about how technology is impacting children, families and communities – and putting our future at risk. Determined to carry out projects that leave a positive impact on society, McCourt is focused on Project Liberty, a bold and far-reaching effort to build an internet where individuals have more control over their data, a voice in how digital platforms operate, and more access to the economic benefits of innovation. Supported by a $500-million commitment from McCourt, Project Liberty encompasses the work of the Project Liberty Foundation—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, Sciences Po, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and Amplica Labs, a technology business launched by McCourt Global that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure.

Information is the lifeblood of any society, and our current system for accessing, engaging and sharing it is corrupted at its heart. Rather than a free-flowing exchange of ideas in a decentralized environment, today’s internet is a closed-loop system, dominated by large technology firms feeding on our individual data and using increasingly sophisticated algorithms to keep people addicted and perpetually doom scrolling. In plain but forceful language, the authors illustrate how this centralized system, controlled by a small group of for-profit entities, has set a catastrophe in motion and stripped us of our personhood. Trust is gone, hostility is on the rise and people—especially parents concerned about their kids’ use of social media—are desperate for solutions.

McCourt and Casey offer much-needed hope for a better future. Optimistically and convincingly, they lay out a groundbreaking solution to reclaim what Big Tech has co-opted and corrupted: a new, decentralized model for managing information over the internet that, by its very design, puts the rights of the individuals first. They reimagine the internet as a place where the individual can choose whether or not to share their data. A place where people can reclaim their identity, digital footprint, and personal sovereignty. A place where individual rights are sacrosanct – and where tech corporations must agree to our terms of use before accessing the data, content and connections we create online.

Much like Americans have amended the U.S. Constitution in order to enshrine new rights and obligations, so too must we amend the protocols by which the internet operates. By upgrading the internet’s current architecture, we can lay the foundation for a more equitable and inclusive web that prioritizes people over platforms and enables users to own and control their personal data.

McCourt and Casey make a powerful argument for acting now, before a Big Tech-driven AI transformation is complete, to build a new, open internet that works for humanity, rather than against it. Americans have an opportunity—perhaps the last one we’ll ever get—to lead the world out of a mess we helped create.

About the Authors

Frank H. McCourt, Jr. is the Executive Chairman of McCourt Global, a private family enterprise working across the real estate, sports, technology, media, and capital investment industries. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of Project Liberty, a far-reaching effort to build an internet where individuals have more control over their data, a voice in how digital platforms operate, and more access to the economic benefits of innovation. Supported by a $500-million commitment from McCourt, Project Liberty encompasses the work of the Project Liberty Foundation—a 501(c)(3) with an international partner network that includes Georgetown University, Stanford University, Sciences Po, and other leading academic institutions and civic organizations—and Amplica Labs, a technology business launched by McCourt Global that is focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure that empowers people and safeguards children.

Michael J. Casey is the Chief Content Officer at the award-winning media company CoinDesk, co-host of the “Money Reimagined” podcast, and the Chairman of the Consensus conference. He has worked as a journalist on five continents, including eighteen years with Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, and was a founding staffer at MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative. Casey’s previous books include The Age of Cryptocurrency, The Social Organism, and The Truth Machine.

ABOUT MCCOURT GLOBAL & PROJECT LIBERTY

McCourt Global (MG) is a private family company focused on building for tomorrow through its work across real estate, sports & media, technology, capital investment and social impact. Led by founder and Executive Chairman Frank McCourt, a civic entrepreneur and fifth-generation builder, and an international leadership team, MG extends the McCourt family’s 130-year legacy of developing infrastructure and merging community and social impact with financial results — an approach that began when the original McCourt company was launched in Boston in 1893.

In 2021, MG publicly launched Project Liberty, a far-reaching effort to build an internet where individuals have more control over their data, a voice in how digital platforms operate, and more access to the economic benefits of innovation. Project Liberty’s activities include the release and stewardship of the Decentralized Social Networking Protocol (DSNP), which is available as a public utility to serve as the bedrock of a more equitable and inclusive web, and its launch of the Safe Tech, Safe Kids campaign focused on youth mental health and social media. Project Liberty’s Institute (formerly The McCourt Institute) works to ensure that digital governance is prioritized in the development of the next generation of the internet. The institute’s founding academic partners include Georgetown University, Stanford University, and Sciences Po; and it is collaborating with MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication and Cortico, as well as Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society to support the creation of healthier social networks. In 2023, Frank McCourt unveiled Project Liberty’s “Better Web, Better World” manifesto at Web Summit in Lisbon. This vision for a new web is supported by the work of Amplica Labs, which is led by the tech team behind DSNP and focused on developing the next generation of digital infrastructure. Through a $500-million commitment that supports both nonprofit and commercial activities, Project Liberty aims to unleash a new era of innovation that empowers people over platforms and serves the common good.

SOURCE McCourt Global

The US onAir Network has a national hub at us.onair.cc and 50 state onAir hubs.

The US onAir Network supports US citizens and democracy by bringing together information, experts, organizations, policy makers, and the public to facilitate greater engagement in federal, state, and local politics and more civil, positive discussions and collaborations on important issues and governance.

The US onAir network’s focus through the month of November is on the presidential race and competitive senate and house races … informing you about the candidates and their position on key issues while also providing you a civil place for discussion with your fellow Americans.

Between December 2024 and August 2026, our hubs and online discussions will focus on the issues and legislative solutions being addressed by national, state, and local representatives.

Select the links below to learn more about:

• How to participate in discussions,  Become an onAir member;
• How to use the onAir platform – Some video tips;
• The US onAir network and the onAir platform via this two minute video
• How to find archived daily news posts and spotlighted featured news
  and learn more about daily news posts and where they are archived;
• Interning with, Donating to, and Sponsoring a Hub or post in US onAir.
• Substack:  usonair.substack.com   BlueSky:  usonair.bsky.social

The US onAir network’s focus through the month of November is on the presidential race and competitive senate and house races … informing you about the candidates and their position on key issues while also providing you a civil place for discussion with your fellow Americans.

Between December 2024 and August 2026, our hubs and online discussions will focus on the issues and legislative solutions being addressed by national, state, and local representatives.

Select the links below to learn more about:

• How to participate in discussions,  Become an onAir member;
• How to use the onAir platform – Some video tips;
• The US onAir network and the onAir platform via this two minute video
• How to find archived daily news posts and spotlighted featured news
  and learn more about daily news posts and where they are archived;
• Interning with, Donating to, and Sponsoring a Hub or post in US onAir.

ABOUT US ONAIR NEWS

The first news items will start being displayed on the US onAir homepage around 9 am. Throughout the day, livestreamed events will appear under the “Latest” tab. The last news items will appear around 7pm concluding with PBS NewsHour’s “News Wrap” video clip (approx. 5 minutes).

KEY SOURCES FOR NEWS POSTS  
PBS NewsHour’s YouTube channel is our primary source for videos and livestreams. Key sources for articles include: PBS News, Politico, The Hill, Vox, Smerconish.com, and The Conversation. Substack sources include: The Bulwark, Silver Bulletin, and So What by Chris Cillizza. All links should go to publicly available content (no paywalls).

US ONAIR SUBSTACK

US onAir has established a substack at usonair.substack.com to provide substack subscribers a way to receive these news posts within a phone app and via email. Comments on news items can be made in the substack post. OnAir members can comment in this onAir post and/or in specific related onAir posts. Substack posts are delivered by email around 9pm Monday thru Friday.