The latest tussle between big government and even more prodigious tech has once again manifested itself in a knee deep sludge of totalitarianism and tyranny, as the competition for the lesser of two evils pits F***book against state government. Curiously and disturbingly, the controversial legislation borrowed from Australia is both an act of censorship and the assault on a commercial enterprise, a volatile duality that illustrates the overreach of public infrastructure and the private sector, coalescing in a minefield of ambiguity. While both Mark Zuckerberg’s empire and the organ of elected officials excel at brandishing the opaque for the sake of self-preservation, the end-user loses out in the end of the this sordid narrative of ravenous cannibalism, as the hazy lines between extend between the free market and public regulations.
In response to a proposed mandate in the People’s Republic of California demanding that social media and purveyors of digital content indirectly compensate news organizations after redistributing content on various platforms, big tech and the essence of Mark Zuckerberg are threatening to block informational data from distribution within the geographical confines of the Golden state. As the definition of censorship becomes increasingly muddled, the competition is fierce in achieving the trophy celebration subversion and the escalation towards a state-run Silicon Valley portal of dissemination, a model first perfected in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution.
In 2020, the Australian government fired the first salvo of fierce government regulations across the subsidiary of Meta in requiring that the corporation revel in transparency, or else. While the measure did not set precedent, the social networks of the globe were put on red alert that politicians endured a level of envy not witnessed since the concept of a Donald Trump presidency became tangible, and with the pending circus, a level of chaos and polarization evident across the expanse of the globe in ruining any fantasy of political allies and adversaries making strange bedfellows setting off Richter scales on three continents.
As leadership of the digital communities has engaged in guerilla tactics relating to electronic media service providers, and a cavalier track record of the reckless handling of sensitive information, certainly private business can dictate the quality control performance if adhering to codified law. However, in the unique ecosystem of the Information age, government is playing an epic game of catch-up inspired by sentiment and nostalgia implants in establishing suitable standards and guidelines applied to online entities. This cumbersome dynamic has resulted in elected officials drafting legislation that extends far beyond the scope of governance and delves into corruption.
The proposed militant legislation, endorsed by Gavin Newsom’s most liberal minions, will impose heavy taxes on the lucrative profits that F***book and other platforms that accumulate like snowbanks of Bogota Bullion and unofficial tariffs diverted from the Cartel’s ongoing pledge drive and into the state’s coffers. Tech industry leadership contends that the misleading verbiage contained within the legislation will be egregiously allocated for news organizations outside the borders of California, while supporters of the bill claim that the money is crucial for reinvigorating grassroots journalism within the state.
Not only does the insufferably titled “Journalism Preservation Act” disproportionally punish the essence of innovation with all the subtlety of the legislature engaging in time travel aboard a sleek and eco-friendly capsule to tax the pioneers of the combustion engine vehicle and compensate the diminishing horse farmer marketplace, but opens up yet another nebulous funding channel for special interests that is impervious to even AI designed public information requests.
Ironically, those left of center in trafficking trillions of dollars through the bureaucratic substrate while criticizing the existence of tycoons, have a turned a blind eye on the AM radio bandwidth, although the major electric vehicle manufacturers have continued to omit the access to the analog airwaves within the framework of overengineering that propels a toxic waste dump on four tires along with the intrepid vision of the Elon Musk cult and dreams of touching the future through the present.
While the tax-frenzied gulag of leadership veers towards the core of hegemonism, the tech universe is also complicit in completing a frightening duality proliferating influence, propaganda, and indoctrination. The ledger of F***book’s indiscretions pertaining to the handling of news over the last decade fails to reach the deplorable the depths of hell, and the publicly traded private-entity is immune to accountability and consequence, like a handful of digital corporations, due to limitless guns accessible to sorties of adroit legal minds. Before Musk liberated Twitter, the social network was pulsating endorsement for the Democratic party. As a result of these factors, “fake” news has become prevalent, and distinguishing fact from opinion through the maze and layers of superficial and misleading content has become as difficult to the end user as enduring low-grade homicidal thoughts on a daily basis triggered by narrowly avoiding a pedestrian blindly crossing a busty street with face buried into a smart device. Unfortunately, the influence and influencers of social media are here to stay and speaking of Darwin’s theory of evolution, society must adjust to the contemporary reality or dissolve into obscurity.
California and other states can pass all the strict measures possible and forge legal campaigns in attempting to harness big tech, however it all falls on the literal hands of consumers and the ability to vote with their checkbooks. Smartphone users must be vigilant in making better choices and rekindling the drive to foster critical thinking skills in attempting to understand a very confusing world, where the nonsensical is currently dominating.
