The sale of TikTok is underway. The social network, which has almost double the audience of Twitter, will be owned by Marc Andreessen, a prominent Trump supporter who has provided millions to Trump’s campaign and is serving as an economic advisor to the administration, and Larry Ellison, who is becoming increasingly closer to Trump.
This is not only another addition to the “you scratch my back, I scratch yours" approach to businesses, contracts, and investments under the Trump administration, but it is also another step in Trump’s campaign to increase his influence over media companies, resorting to intimidation when all else fails.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, which also owns Threads and Instagram, has shown he will do everything he can to stay on Trump’s good side. At a recent White House meeting, Trump put Zuckerberg on the spot to announce a seemingly made-up amount of future US investment, only to be caught on a hot mic moments later telling Trump, “Sorry, I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with.”
Elon Musk, owner of Twitter, spent $290 million on Trump’s 2024 campaign while controlling the narrative through amplifying Trump-supporting voices on Twitter and reducing the reach of opposition. Musk routinely works to adjust Twitter’s AI, known as Grok, to try to push aside factual information that contradicts his positions. For his efforts, Musk was rewarded with the Department of Government Efficiency, which was supposed to save America trillions of dollars, only to end up costing America more than the piddly amount that it saved while downloading the personal information of over 300 million Americans.
With Marc Andreessen and Larry Ellison gaining control of TikTok, the top three social media networks are now under Trump-influenced control. Larry Ellison’s son, David Ellison, bought CBS and Paramount with funding from his father. These networks settled Trump’s baseless lawsuit against 60 Minutes. They went on to find a reason to announce the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert just three days after Colbert had a monologue criticizing the settlement. The Ellisons are now looking to buy Warner Bros. This would give them control of CNN, another major news network.
After Colbert was cancelled, Trump said that Jimmy Kimmel would be next. Sure enough, when Kimmel discussed MAGA’s attempts to capitalize on the tragedy of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, including Trump, who immediately blamed it on the “radical left” before the suspect was even known, Kimmel was immediately put on indefinite suspension. Kimmel also condemned the violence, as well as those who attempted to celebrate the tragedy. But none of that mattered, as Trump’s FCC Chairman, Brandon Carr, threatened the network that there would be repercussions if it did not punish Kimmel. Kimmel’s show was then suspended.
Trump sued the New York Times in September with a $15 billion defamation suit because he didn’t like how they reported on the 2024 presidential campaign. In July, Trump sued the Wall Street Journal for their reporting on a crude birthday letter outlined with a drawing of a naked woman’s torso that Trump signed and gave to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. Trump claimed that it was entirely made up. The letter was later released to the public by the Epstein estate. Trump also sued CBS News, ABC News, NBC Universal, and CNN.
The lawsuits that weren’t settled have mostly been dismissed, with a few still ongoing. The goal isn’t to win lawsuits; it is to intimidate anyone who would consider opposing Trump, which, in his mind, includes anyone doing factual reporting.
Recently, Trump lashed out at an Australian reporter who asked about what amounts to bribes from Saudi Arabia. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff made a deal with Saudi Arabia, where the nation would deposit $2 billion into the crypto startup World Liberty Financial, which Trump and Witkoff created. In exchange, the Trump administration would provide Saudi Arabia with advanced, powerful computer chips that are crucial to the United States’ technological advantage, even though this deal could potentially put those chips in the hands of China. America doesn’t allow China access to our current-gen chips, particularly those used for AI and the military.
Trump told the reporter that asking such a question was hurting Australia. Shortly after, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation had its press credentials withdrawn for a press conference involving Trump and the UK Prime Minister.
Despite Trump having many of his frivolous lawsuits dismissed, the intimidation works. Jeff Bezos prevented The Washington Post from endorsing Kamala Harris during the 2024 campaign out of fear that if Trump won, it could lead to problems with his future business deals. Bezos went further and donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund. Paramount also had business deals on the line with a merger that needed approval. The approval was granted after their settlement.
Other networks have become hesitant to ask Trump about his corrupt crypto bribes, even as a Chinese CEO admitted to buying almost $2 million worth of Trump crypto specifically to gain favor from the administration. They don’t push Trump on the lawsuits he’s lost, the judicial decisions he’s ignoring, or the boats he’s bombing without legal authorization or even the slightest amount of due process.
Trump may be losing in court, but he’s gaining what he wants: a press that overlooks corruption for the sake of access, and opposition that may think twice before pushing too hard.
So often we hear people talk about how bad everything has become, worried about how far it will go, and wondering what they can do to make a difference. A great place to start is to support those who are standing their ground.
Independent media is becoming increasingly important to ensuring essential news stories are brought to light, but to be independent requires public support. Support publications such as ProPublica, Lever News, or any number of Substacks working to break stories, inform the public, or rally others to the cause. Support mainstream news that isn’t caving to Trump’s bullying, choosing instead to continue to report the truth about the administration.
Do not let the free press and right to free speech be silenced without a fight.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/16/tech/tiktok-ban-extension-trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/technology/trump-larry-ellison-tiktok-oracle.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/us/politics/trump-uae-chips-witkoff-world-liberty.html
A Slow Boil
The President of the United States has deployed the military into two American cities, one of which is the nation's capital. His masked secret police force, ICE, not only has a budget larger than that of any other federal law enforcement agency, but also exceeds that of 23 of the world's top 40 most expensive militaries.