The American entrepreneur and current owner of the Olympique de Marseille Frank McCourt will invest up to $ 100 million in the development of an alternative Internet protocol against the "stranglehold" of social networking platforms on the "data" of " users, ”he announced in a press release on Monday.

This investment "will allow (...) the creation of a fairer Internet and a new open-source protocol, in order to free social networks from the stranglehold of the companies that own them, to protect privacy, to promote innovation. and give back ownership of their data to users, ”the statement affirmed.

A partnership with Georgetown University

In detail, the American entrepreneur will invest 25 million dollars for the development of a new computer protocol "which will belong to the users".

This new infrastructure will be "operational in the fall" and should allow users of social networks to "take back" their personal information, now held "by existing platforms", ambitions the American billionaire.

The remaining $ 75 million will finance the establishment of an “international institute”, in partnership with Georgetown University in the United States and Sciences-Po in France, to “advance cutting-edge research on the development of technologies serving the common good, ”the statement added.

"Better public infrastructure for the Internet"

“Currently, the platforms of our social networks have an increased control over our data, fuel social tensions, erode our right to privacy and threaten our democracies,” said Frank McCourt, quoted in the press release.

“It's time to regenerate thinking.

Thus, I make the commitment to use my expertise, my network and the necessary resources to bring together teams of world-class experts for the creation of a better public infrastructure for the Internet, in order to create companies and healthier economies, ”he added.

Frank McCourt is a 67-year-old American businessman, owner of the Olympique de Marseille football club since the fall of 2016. He had previously developed his fortune by building a real estate empire in his hometown of Boston in the United States. -United and owned the prestigious Dodgers baseball club in Los Angeles.

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