The Tech Oligarchy Has Been Here for Years:
The technological infrastructure the public relies upon for modern life, crucial platforms for communicating, finding information, and building community; our shared digital commons; has already been operated by what is essentially an oligarchy for the last decade or so.
What’s happening now, in one sense, is that the tech titans who have secured such large swaths of power over the digital world, are increasingly comfortable wielding that power, openly, in the ‘real’ world too; the tech oligarchs are becoming the American oligarchs, period, often using leverage from their digital platforms in tandem with their war chests of old fashioned cash. Musk again most bluntly leads the way; he can both dump $270 million into Trump’s campaign at the bat of an eye, and turn to the social media platform he owns (and has algorithmically rigged to ensure his posts always get maximum visibility) to criticize a spending bill he doesn’t like, target vulnerable political opponents, and get a new one passed in its stead.
