George Orwell’s dystopian novel ‘1984’ warns us of a totalitarian future. But when I read it as a teenager, what shook me most was the realisation that history itself is not safe from backwards manipulation. Pictures can be changed. Texts can be altered. Many years before Trump, Orwell discovered the idea of ’alternative facts’.
And this is precisely the danger of the Elon Musk/Donald Trump axis. Musk used his immense personal wealth to buy Twitter and turn it into his own personal social media network. To recoup his costs he sacked all the moderators and give free rein to ‘clickbait’ posts. Overnight he turned from a liberal into a right wing enthusiast.
Freedom of speech has always been about helping people without a voice speaking truth to power. But what’s happening today is the opposite. Musk is the richest man on earth and he has more than enough power already.
Traditional media channels such as the BBC and the national press are now dismissed as ‘MSM’ (mainstream media). The local press, such as the County Times, has less influence than in the past. People prefer to believe in whatever gets pushed out to their social media feeds by algorithms that deepen prejudices instead of challenging them. It’s a breeding ground for populism.
Whatever the faults of MSM, we do know who they are and what their bias is. I don’t like the Daily Mail, but at least I know what filter I need to apply when I read it.
Social media companies argue they are platforms, not publishers, so none of the normal libel rules apply to them. But in practice their freedom of speech has meant freedom to lie and distribute pornography to children.
As a liberal I support freedom of speech. But the way social media companies care about profit, not truth. Given their egos, it’s questionable how much longer Musk and Trump can stay in the same room as each other. But for long as it lasts, this alliance of influence and political power creates dangerous possibilities.