Media War

What exactly does the media war consist of? Many aspects overlap, complement and reinforce each other: shitstorms, hate speech, rants, gaslighting, trolling, doxxing. Then there is an economic war of displacement: platforms are pushing the editorial media to the wall. And a coup through which the tech monopolists have taken over our democratic public sphere, the ‘forum’ as the basis of our democracy. Lastly, there is the ongoing symbiosis of dark tech, the US government, the European right-wing populists, and, most recently, Putin, who combines military aggression in Eastern Europe with disinformation warfare on the platforms.

Who is pulling the strings in the ‘media war’, and who is just a follower? Who has allied with whom ― and for what purpose? Trump, Musk, AfD, European right-wing populists, Putin, and so on: what alliances and partnerships can be identified? What synergies do these different fields achieve and how do they work together?

What do the various players want to achieve? They tell us the fairy tale that they want to free us from the ‘tyranny of democracy’ ― what exactly does that mean? What is their goal? Do they want to control the public sphere, do they want to take over political power, or is their key objective economic exploitation? What does the cyber-libertarian new world they want to create look like? Who will benefit and who will fall victim to this anti-democratic movement?

An important mechanism in the war of the media is the establishment of digital monopolies. How exactly do monopolies make it possible to create dependencies? How far has this process already progressed? To what extent is this leading to a new age of digital feudalism? How can those involved control the digital public sphere? And what are the consequences for us ― and where are we most vulnerable to blackmail?

A meme is circulating online: “US innovates ― China replicates ― EU regulates”. The opposite is actually the case: the digital monopolies can only exist because the dark tech companies have managed to push through very far-reaching regulatory privileges and preferential legal treatments ― a digital ‘legal code’ that gives them insurmountable advantages in all fields. What exactly do these privileges consist of? And how far has this legal fixation of supremacy already progressed?

Digital platforms are the most important weapons in the ‘media war’. How do the platforms’ algorithms help right-wing populist movements? Which amplifiers and attention boosters lead to established media and established parties being equally disadvantaged ― and to extreme positions and the polarisation of society being promoted? To what extent do the tech giants manipulate traffic ― and why do they betray the communities of the platforms that want a completely different digital world?

The dark tech and right-wing populist ‘liberators’ tell a conspiracy theory according to which ‘freedom of speech’ is in danger and ‘corrupt elites’ are ‘censoring’ the media. Yet the exact opposite is the case: it is the alleged liberators who are systematically restricting media freedom, silencing ever larger sections of the population ― and at the same time controlling the distribution of content via the platforms. How have they managed to do this ― to make people believe that they are giving them a ‘voice’, when in reality they are systematically disempowering them?

How can we break free from the hostile takeover of our society by dark tech and the right―wing populists? What measures do we need to take to save our democratic public sphere ― and regain our digital sovereignty?

Many experts are already saying: The supremacy of tech and Trump is so strong, the status quo can no longer be changed. But what would happen if we simply gave up without a fight? Which mechanisms would make our democracy collapse ― and be replaced by a new, ‘digitalocratic’ order? What exactly would this new order look like? And how does it differ from democracy?

It currently looks as if Western democracies are losing the ‘media war’. Why is that the case? Why is the creeping takeover of our democracy progressing despite all the measures and initiatives? Why are we unable to achieve a critical mass for a genuine counter-movement?