Big Tech billionaires have a front-row seat at Trump’s inauguration, drawing concerns over media freedom and the potential for an oligarchy. The combined economic might of the Bezos/Zuckerberg/Musk empires accounts for less than 2% of total US GDP, but their influence in shaping the media landscape is significant.
The presence of tech moguls at the inauguration is shocking, given their previous criticism of Trump. However, it appears they are now eager to court the new administration to secure government contracts, benefit from a low-tax and low-regulation regime, and avoid being targeted by the president.
The legacy media’s decline and the rise of Big Tech have allowed the latter to exert significant control over what we see and hear. This concentration of control is worrisome, with Big Tech deciding what content is shown on their platforms and shaping public opinion.
The lack of legal guardrails governing social media in the US is a concern, as Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act gives owners broad legal immunity from what goes up on their platforms. A bipartisan piece of legislation, the Protect Reporters From Exploitative State Spying Act (PRESS Act), was proposed to expand press protections against government spying and the seizure of reporting materials, but it was met with opposition from Trump and his allies.
Some of the tech moguls, such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, have made moves to curry favor with the new administration. Zuckerberg has shelved Meta’s fact-checking program, naming a prominent Republican as his chief global affairs officer, and promoting other Trump supporters to key positions.
The FCC, now led by Trump ally Brendan Carr, has revived complaints against ABC, NBC, and CBS, accusing them of liberal bias. The regulator has also agreed to dismiss complaints against Fox Corp, whose Fox News spread lies about the 2020 election.
The fear of retribution may be enough to silence Trump’s critics, with CBS, for example, opting to settle a defamation lawsuit with Trump over a news segment rather than fight it. The lack of political will to enforce existing rules regulating online platforms is a concern, and the best hope for resistance to the tech oligarchy may come from Europe, which has a developing legislative framework to regulate and control online platforms.