Saturday Hashtag: #MonetizedChaos
The Free Speech Deception
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The internet was once envisioned as a space for open exchange and the free flow of information. But, fueled by content commodification and the GOP’s weaponization of every issue, it has devolved into a dark, unregulated labyrinth where engagement — driven by controversy, outrage, and fabrications — has become the most valuable commodity.
This outcome is not the result of some grand conspiracy, but the inevitable consequence of an unregulated profit-driven system that prioritizes engagement above all else. In this system, the interests of content creators and content controllers, shaped by profit and their individual ideologies, seamlessly align, allowing these opposing forces to both capitalize on the chaos. The result? A world where the public and even legislators can’t tell what’s real and what’s fabricated.
The roots of this transformation lie in the broad history of media deregulation and consolidation. However, the pivotal moment came with the 1987 repeal of the 1949 Fairness Doctrine, which had mandated that broadcasters present opposing views.
For over 35 years, this ensured media balance and diversity. Its repeal — driven by the same GOP weaponization of free speech rhetoric which is fueling today’s internet chaos — also set the stage for the current hyperpartisan media landscape.
The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine not only dismantled media balance but also unleashed the GOP strategy to relentlessly attack traditional media gatekeepers, amplifying partisan rhetoric and further weakening the system.
With no obligation to present balanced perspectives, outlets leaned into agenda driven controversy to boost engagement and profits. This shift, fueled by weaponized free speech, paved the way for the rise of right-wing talk radio and conservative cable news, eventually establishing the unregulated internet as the public’s primary news source.
Other contributing factors include structural flaws in the Communications Act of 1934 and 1970s Federal Communication Commission rules. On the positive side, they helped to establish the nightly network news and initially supported accountability. However, their failure to legislate profit constraints on public service news content ultimately helped facilitate the current collapse of public trust in media and institutions.
Now the content controllers on US social platforms like YouTube, Facebook, X/Twitter, and hostile foreign government platforms like TikTok are all actively scraping user data and designing algorithms that prioritize engagement over accuracy. Content creators soon realized that the more divisive or sensational the content was, the more engagement — and profit — it generated for all parties, intensifying the societal risks.
As the digital landscape has grown, so have the tools for manipulation.
AI bots, fake accounts, and politically motivated groups — even hostile nations — are flooding social media with fabricated content, further complicating the already fraught dynamics. These manipulative forces systematically create bogus content and epidemically amplify lies.
The internet’s current state is the result of a broken, unregulated system that profits from division, outrage, misinformation, and chaos. Today, every click, share, and comment also fuels the disinformation cycle, enriching those who stoke the flames. As a result, the public struggles to distinguish fact from fiction.
The right wing has mastered the art of framing their key issues — such as guns and online free speech — as though they are purely binary: either all or nothing. They claim that even the smallest regulation is a slippery slope that will eventually strip away all freedoms, to the point of even banning critical research that might inform and educate the public.
The majority of academic scientific research that is not banned shows this is a fallacy.
The real threat lies in the GOP’s conflation of its rigid, solipsistic ideology and distorted nationalism with true patriotism. This mindset warps public perception and misleads lawmakers, especially when it comes to issues like online free speech.
The truth is, free speech isn’t a simple black-and-white matter. In fact, a complete lack of regulation doesn’t just endanger social stability — it seriously undermines our democracy and national security.
While remaining informed about this crucial issue is important, the public needs to actively expose the individuals of the right-wing media machine that normalize crazy, and that hide the systemic erosion of democracy by legislators and institutions.
The Pentagon Wants to Use AI to Create Deepfake Internet Users
From The Intercept: “The United States’ secretive Special Operations Command is looking for companies to help create deepfake internet users so convincing that neither humans nor computers will be able to detect they are fake, according to a procurement document reviewed by The Intercept.”
‘The Algorithm Has Primacy Over Media … Over Each of Us, and It Controls What We Do’
From Harvard Law Today: “Social media’s business model of personalized virality is incompatible with democracy, agreed experts at a recent Harvard Law School discussion on the state of democracy. Social media doesn’t merely threaten democracy in the future, they said, but may have already done considerable damage.”
Trump’s Threat to Defund All US Public Media Has NPR and PBS on the Back Foot
The author writes, “On the campaign trail this year, Donald Trump routinely criticized US media. The president-elect called for CBS to be stripped of its broadcast license after it aired an interview with Kamala Harris, refused to participate in an interview with 60 Minutes and routinely called journalists the ‘enemy of the people.’ But perhaps no American media has attracted as much ire from the president-elect as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — a non-profit corporation created by federal law in 1967 to distribute funding to public media organizations like PBS and NPR.”
A Free Press Needs a New Kind of Journalism
From Nonprofit Quarterly: “Did you know that just six large corporations control 90 percent of what people in the United States watch and read? Did you know that a handful of billionaires and asset managers have been buying up local newspapers, magazines, and TV stations? Do you suppose this increased corporate ownership influences what people know and think?”
Addressing the Decline of Local News, Rise of Platforms, and Spread of Mis- and Disinformation Online
The authors write, “Social scientists who study the impact of the Internet, social media, and other forms of digital information sharing paint an alarming picture of the health of American democracy. Our current media ecosystem produces too little high-quality information; we have a tendency to be attracted to information that confirms our existing biases about the world and to share this information with little regard for its veracity; and there are an increasing number of actors who seek to leverage these observations to distort public discourse and to undermine democratic decision-making.”
AI as a Public Good: Ensuring Democratic Control of AI in the Information Space
The authors write, “If AI development and use continues as it currently does, it poses major challenges to the information environment that powers democratic processes. … We are on the verge of a major shift in the AI governance landscape from ideas to regulation. It is time for States to act, and our roadmap is intended to guide policy-makers in defending democracy.”
Predicting the Best and Worst of Digital Life by 2035
The authors write, “While great new benefits are widely expected, most experts also express some degree of worry over how today’s digital trends may influence life in the near future. More than a third, 37%, are more concerned than excited, and 42% are equally concerned and excited about what they expect to see as they imagine the next decade-plus.”
How the Internet Can Harm Us, and What Can We Do About It?
From the European Parliamentary Research Service: “While the social and economic benefits of the internet cannot be denied, some of these developments can severely affect such European values as equality, respect for human rights and democracy. Technology companies are under increasing pressure to mitigate these harmful effects, and politicians and opinion leaders are advocating drastic measures.”
