On April 26, the world’s richest person made his bid to buy a major social media platform. And unless the Securities and Exchange Commission overrules it or one of the parties walks away, on Oct. 24 Tesla titan Elon Musk will own Twitter.
There has been much handwringing over this development, particularly on whether Musk will let a certain twice-impeached president back on the platform. But though this is a big deal (literally, given the $44 billion price tag), it’s just one case out of many that demonstrate how both social media and “legacy media” are under the control of billionaires. There are only 11 “centibillionaires” in the world, and seven of them either own or have owned media outlets, or are involved in media through philanthropic donations.
In his article detailing this trend, California Local reporter Jonathan Vankin quotes Nolan Higdon, a lecturer at UCSC’s Merrill College. Higdon, whose recent books include The Anatomy of Fake News: A Critical News Literacy Education (2020) and The Podcaster’s Dilemma: Decolonizing Podcasters in the Era of Surveillance Capitalism (2021), believes the growing proliferation of billionaires owning media outlets is a sign that America is becoming an oligarchy—a country where true political power resides in the hands of a few.
Speaking of billionaires … thanks to the phenomenon of growing income inequality, their numbers are expanding—and so is their wealth. Back in 1996—when media magnate Rupert Murdoch launched Fox News—there were 428 billionaires. Now, according to Forbes, there are 2,668 billionaires worldwide. And according to OxFam International, during the pandemic the world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes while incomes dropped for 99 percent of humanity.
That consolidation of wealth, argues Higdon, has some suggesting that the U.S. is in the midst of a second Gilded Age. And like the first, this “new crop of oligarchs” can use their wealth to buy media and political influence. How extensive can that political influence be? Just take a look at what Donald Trump was able to accomplish in four years: Despite losing the popular vote, he was able to appoint three justices to lifelong terms on the Supreme Court. And as of May 2022, a new conservative majority appears poised to undo 50 years of progress toward reproductive rights for women.
