Mastodawn

Bernie Sanders
@berniesanders

It's not just that Oligarchs control our economy. It's not just that they control our political system. Increasingly, they control what we see, hear and read.

Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, owns X.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin the second- and third-richest men control YouTube.

Jeff Bezos owns Twitch.

Mark Zuckerberg owns Facebook and Instagram.

And Larry Ellison will soon control TikTok.

Almost all of them sat right behind Donald Trump at his inauguration. All of them bankrolled him. All of them are getting richer by the day.

But it's not just social media. Ellison and his son David, with the help of Trump, will soon control CNN - not to mention CBS, HBO, MTV, Miramax, BET, Warner Brothers and many more. In fact, just this morning, after CNN published reporting on the President's mishandling of the war in Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, "the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better."

This is a startling example of the kind of state control you see in authoritarian states, not a democracy.

I believe most journalists are factual and report what they see. The real question is: What are they told to emphasize by their corporate bosses? What are they told to ignore? Whose stories are being told?

Larry Ellison has made billions of dollars from Al. Will you hear much serious discussion about the economic, social and existential threats of Al on TikTok, CBS or CNN?

Ellison is a personal confidant of Benjamin Netanyahu, a notorious war criminal, and a supporter of Netanyahu's genocidal war in Gaza. Will we see criticism of Israel on his media platforms?

Information is power. Democracy cannot survive a system where a handful of billionaires control our media and social media platforms. We need a media system that serves the public, not just the Oligarchs who own them. This is an enormously important issue that deserves thoughtful discussion and real solutions. What do you think?