Meta’s ‘Power’ Play & The Billionaire Class’ Scramble For Safety.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta isn’t just making questionable business decisions—it’s executing a chilling authoritarian play straight out of Putin’s handbook. In a whirlwind of recent moves, Meta has killed its fact-checking program, appointed Trump loyalist Dana White to its board, and placed Joel Kaplan, a Republican operative with close ties to Brett Kavanaugh and Donald Trump, at the helm of public policy. Kaplan wasted no time, appearing on Fox & Friends to announce Meta’s pivot toward a Musk-style free-for-all moderation strategy, effectively dismantling the very safeguards that kept disinformation and hate speech in check. These aren’t random corporate shakeups; they’re strategic capitulations to authoritarian forces. This isn’t about business or profit—it’s about power and survival.
If you think this is just about greed, you’ve already lost the thread. What we’re watching is a meticulously orchestrated power play, ripped straight from Putin’s autocratic manual—a chilling step-by-step reenactment of how Russia’s strongman turned dishonesty into a weapon, dissent into treason, and loyalty into currency. This isn’t business strategy, and it damn sure isn’t profit-driven. It’s survival—an authoritarian insurance policy, dressed up as a free-market pivot, designed to shield the billionaire class as the ground crumbles beneath the rest of us.
Let’s start with the fact-checking debacle. Killing it doesn’t serve Meta’s bottom line—quite the opposite. Advertisers don’t want their brands plastered beside conspiracy theories and disinformation. But this isn’t about ad revenue; it’s about dismantling accountability. It’s the opening move in a game Russia perfected: overwhelm the ecosystem with lies, saturate the airwaves with so much noise that the truth becomes unrecognizable. Putin didn’t just dominate Russia with guns—he drowned it in propaganda, destabilizing public discourse until he could sell himself as the only source of stability.
The appointment of Dana White, a Trump loyalist whose only qualification is his proximity to power. Does he bring business acumen? No. Strategic insight? Hardly. What he brings is allegiance—a mirror image of Putin’s oligarchic model, where loyalty eclipses expertise and every seat of influence is reserved for those who toe the line. Meta’s board is morphing into a political fortress, not a governing body. White’s placement isn’t about steering the company forward; it’s about steering it into the warm embrace of authoritarianism, ensuring Meta remains untouchable under a Trumpist regime.
Kaplan’s saccharine talk of “free expression” on Fox & Friends is the final insult to our intelligence. Like Putin cloaking his crackdowns in the language of Russian sovereignty, Kaplan is using the banner of “freedom” to dismantle the structures that protect it. Free expression isn’t the goal—it’s the alibi. The real aim is to placate power, to ensure that when Trump’s shadow looms large again, Meta isn’t in its path but walking in step with it.
Step back and see the full picture: Zuckerberg isn’t building a business; he’s constructing a fortress. Like Putin’s oligarchs, he’s ensuring that when chaos reigns, he has a seat at the table of power, while the rest of us are left outside in the storm. Cutting oversight, appointing loyalists, amplifying division—these aren’t random acts. They’re deliberate moves to secure Meta’s survival in an authoritarian future that people like Zuckerberg are betting on.
If the billionaires—the ones with all the money, the influence, the resources—are scrambling to shield themselves from what’s coming, doesn’t it strike you as odd that you feel safe? This isn’t about free speech or greed or even Trump himself. It’s about power—raw, unfiltered power—and the terrifying playbook they’re following to keep it.