An especially dangerous type of propagandist is the organized spokesperson for a society that exists primarily so that he can express his opinions on some topic that interests him (…) This man could talk endlessly on the street corner and no one would pay attention to him. the least attention. So you organize a society, get elected president, get a letterhead with all the awesome names you can get your hands on, and voilà! speaks with authority on behalf of the International Society for the Upliftment of a Fallen Race.
The article published exactly 100 years ago by Edward McKernon in Harper’s magazine demonstrates that misinformation and the dangers of fake news for democracy are not new. A century later, Mark Zuckerberg’s reel on his Instagram account not only distances this problem from being addressed, but also inaugurates a new scenario in the run-up to Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Through its CEO, Meta announced that it will discontinue its data verification program for the content available on its platforms, used by nearly 4 billion users around the world. Far from being surprising, this decision, which reverses the program created after Trump’s election in 2016, represents the corollary of a long approach to the former president’s priorities.
The appointment of Trump allies on the Meta Board and its global affairs directorate, the donation of one million dollars for the Republican’s inauguration on January 20 and what is expected to be a progressive abandonment of diversity and inclusion commitments , are part of the strategic realignment of Silicon Valley CEOs who, like Zuckerberg, seek a friendlier relationship with the president-elect of the United States.
“Mark, Meta, welcome to the party!” exclaimed X CEO Linda Yaccarino, also celebrating the disdain with which zuck He referred to the “traditional media”, the discursive mask of his boss Elon Musk. The party, however, hosts what Steve Bannon, chief strategist during Trump’s first term, defined as “flooding the ground with shit” in his crusade against the real opposition: the media.
From suspending Trump’s account after the attack on the Capitol in 2021, calling the risks of allowing him to use the platform “simply too great,” Zuckerberg and his political positioning reflect the transition of the big tech from saying sorry to stopping, even when it seems counterintuitive. When Trump won in 2016, social networks were filled with explanatory analyzes in response to the surprise. This time, no. The forcefulness of the victory left the explanatory task pending only for the Democratic Party.
Donald Trump, who will govern with the support of a Congress controlled by the Republican Party and a Supreme Court with a conservative majority (in which he appointed three of its members), seems to have, in the run-up to his inauguration, political and media that eclipses even the fact that in recent days he has become the first president in the history of the United States to be convicted of a criminal offense.
The ability to surprise each day, to go beyond the previous day’s bizarre or abusive action or statement with another, is a power that all successful autocrats possess. Western media and politics are still unable to deal with a resource that now seems to find fertile ground in Meta and its platforms to continue its flooding.
Trump will take office in an ideal scenario to continue dominating the battle for attention, fulfill his promise to intensify attacks against independent journalism and establish a new normal. A normality that AG Sulzberger, editor in chief of The New York Times, warned from the pages of The Washington Post: “The war against freedom of expression is also waged in democracies.”
Graduate in International Relations from USAL
Source: Ambito
