" The Verge Editor-In-Chief Nilay Patel breathes fire on Elon Musk and Donald Trump's Big Tech enablers
"All of these men are now hopelessly trapped in a problem their own platforms and algorithms created.
What do you make of Elon Musk's alliance with Donald Trump and what worries you the most about him playing such an outsized role in the Trump administration?
America now has an unelected defense contractor sitting in the White House doing ketamine and twiddling the algorithmic knobs of an influential right-wing echo chamber while fulminating against traditional standards-based journalism, threatening to revoke network broadcast licenses, and suing advertisers who dont want to spend their money on his dwindling user base. What could go wrong?
On top of that, Trump's most likely FCC Chairman is Brendan Carr, who was tasked in the first Trump government to crack down on platform moderation by taking control of Section 230, literally wrote the Project 2025 chapter laying out a plan to do so, and is now begging to punish NBC for having Kamala Harris on SNL.
To be as clear as I can be, the second Trump administration with Elon Musk embedded within it represents the most direct and sustained threat to the First Amendment and the freedom of the press any of us will ever experience. If youre a media executive or editorial leader and you havent met with your legal team to understand the current landscape of First Amendment threats, let alone the ones to come, youre already behind. Get on it.
[Editors note: After this Q&A was completed, Trump indeed said he planned to appoint Carr FCC chair.]
https://www.status.news/p/nilay-patel-donald-trump-big-tech-interview