Borkowski Media Trends: Zuckerberg vs Facts | Musk vs UK Democracy & MORE
PLUS Trump vs Greenland
Zuckerberg Uncensored
Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announced that, starting in the US, the company will get rid of factcheckers in a move to ‘dramatically reduce the amount of censorship’ across its platforms and favour freedom of expression. The move was announced via a Meta blog post and a video, in which Zuckerberg alluded to a ‘cultural tipping point’ spurred by Trump’s election win. Factcheckers will be replaced with an X style community notes feature.
Efforts to spin this new development as one rooted in Meta’s independent support for free speech were widely dismissed and the move labelled a transparent attempt to court the incoming Trump administration.
The International Fact-Checking Network issued a statement saying that Zuckerberg’s censorship claim was ‘false’ and the UN Rights Chief was quoted on Friday in Geneva stating that regulating harmful content online ‘is not censorship’.
Zuckerberg has never relied on his personal popularity for Facebook (now Meta)’s success - even during his hot girl summer. And the public’s tepid attitude towards him could be part of the reason why his claims to be updating Meta for the greater good have been so pervasively dismissed.
Years of paying the press little heed has stripped Zuckerberg of even a crumb of the benefit of the doubt. The media reaction has largely been to point out the many ways Zuckerberg has been courting Trump, from meeting at Mar-A-Lago, to donating $1m to his inauguration fund. The replacement of European liberal Nick Clegg with Republican Joel Kaplan further speaks to the political motivations behind the move.
All in all, the media and public are convinced that Trump has Meta by the proverbial balls (something he was pleased to confirm replying ‘probably’ when asked whether his threats had led to the policy change), no amount of video messages promising that the move protects free speech or conservative support can flip this narrative. At least until someone decides to use Facebook to rewrite the story.
DOGE Diplomacy hits the UK
At $44bn, many considered Musk's purchase of Twitter in 2022 as an egregious overpayment for a declining platform, with some claiming it was the largest overpay in history. Even for Musk's most devout followers, it's hard to argue he got bang for his buck. However, it's equally as hard to imagine Musk's current position in Trump's government possible without X and the role it played (or at least the role he spun it as playing) in Trump's victory.
With Musk leading the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) [*sigh*], the controversial tech bro's newfound political power put his influence at an all-time high, immediately causing headaches by reigniting his feud with Starmer and stirring tensions in Germany.
Starting with the UK, his decision to champion Tommy Robinson, demanding his release and attempts to oust Starmer, claiming he's complicit in covering up child sex abuse scandals are so chaotic, that it's hard to decipher what the overall strategy entails beyond outright chaos.
His rudimentary understanding of the UK's political situation even forced Musk to withdraw support for Nigel Farage when it transpired Farage and Robinson don't bat for the same team. It is so bizarre, that Farage and Starmer are even sharing a laugh at Musk's expense.
And more recently, likely buoyed by his (claimed) influence over the US presidential election, Musk hosted an interview with Germany’s far-right frontwoman, AfD's Alice Weidel, covering German bureaucracy, Adolf Hitler, and the meaning of life in a 74-minute window as Germany gears up for its own election.
How long this strange dystopian reality continues to play out might depend on the inevitable tensions that'll brew between the colliding, planet-sized egos of Musk and Trump, and the diametrically opposed values and styles of the EU and Musk.
His brash UK/European foray has every chance of being laughed off and confined to a declining X, but his political ascent is startling. World leaders and bodies responsible for curbing such threats to democracy will likely be tackling the Musk conundrum, but it's a terrifying reminder in this post-truth world we live in, it's very difficult to stop actors like Musk who wield this level of power and money, and Musk is inadvertently creating a blueprint for others to experiment.
Greenland boondoggle is first page in the Trump-Musk playbook
As Trump 2.0 lumbers through the last few court dates before his return to the White House, he has sent out a clear sign of the chaos awaiting us when he retakes the hot seat.
He announced, backed by frat-bro-in-chief Elon Musk, that he intends to buy, annex, repossess, invade or otherwise take Greenland for the USA.
Treated across the Atlantic as an act of unhinged megalomania, it’s also an instructive look into the inner-workings of the Trump-Musk playbook.
Firstly, it’s an act of nakedly commercial self-interest. A purpose play for the ‘America First’ movement. Trump wants Greenland for its rare earth minerals and to give the USA elements of economic independence from Russia and China.
Secondly, talk of a military intervention especially is likely to be little more than unrefined, far-fetched rhetoric, and in the words of David Lammy the UK Foreign Secretary “it’s not going to happen”. Trump's complicated relationship with the truth and the bounds of reality is unlikely to change in his second term.
Thirdly, it’s a display of the kind of aggressive machismo that has come to define Trump’s alt-right base. Bullying a small, civilised European country with a high development index into giving up its massive frozen tundra will undoubtedly play well with the Jan 6-ers. There was even something openly menacing and mafioso about the way Don Jr. was sent to case the joint this week.
Closely linked to the above point, the whole gambit is like something out of a fantastical world-conquering strategy video game. The kind of move that will be seen as strategic genius by the kind of cosseted, screen-addicted teenage incel who might have come round to Trump at the urging of Musk.
Finally, and chillingly, Greenland is just the latest name to be mentioned, after Canada and the Panama Canal, as part of a growing pattern of Trump mooting US territorial expansion even if that means taking other countries’ sovereign territories by force. This is straight out of the playbook of the fascist strong man which, worryingly, will also carry strong appeal for many existing Trump supporters.
Even if it’s all a lot of hot air, the sum of these parts is a treat for Trump’s new and expanded base, but a worrying, disorienting and potentially destabilising warning shot for those who will have to keep him in check for the next four years.