Free Speech, Russian, and Western interests | How X.com and Telegram will define the battle for our minds in the coming years
Telegram and X.com are increasingly under scrutiny for similar reasons. Both platforms offer censorship-free means of communication. What are the consequences for the West?
He who controls the media, controls the democratic process. This is a hard truth that we all know and accept. Because of this phenomenon, Media Control has been extensively studied by Political Scientists. When a very wealthy person or group of people decides to step up their game, they acquire, invest in, or downright establish a Media company.
The Media is a concentrated market, and this is great for policymakers. If a country did not have any control whatsoever over their media, the modern democratic process would inevitably suffer, as the free flow of information would prevent nations from forming homogeneous opinions. This is a sad, inconvenient, yet very real truth.
Studying Media control forces us to take a deep look at Propaganda design. Controlling the democratic process is very important for both incumbents and challengers. Donald Trump’s propaganda machine was scientifically ruthless in 2016. The Democrats fought fire with fire and unleashed an equally vitriolic string of attacks that highlighted the paradigm shift: it was now fair game to insult and demonize the opponent to levels never seen before.
Despite the American people being used to strong rhetoric, Trump’s media team had to learn how to speak more loudly than ever - precisely because the Media battle was uphill, at best.
Most Media groups support the Democratic party. This called for a new strategy that culminated in a baffling, even comic, exchange of unprecedented insults in the history of western democracy. In the end, the need to be heard by swing voters was so strong, neither side could be taken seriously.
But what happens when Free Speech threatens national security at home and abroad?
Elon Musk buys X.com and reinstates Donald Trump on the platform
After the January 6 2021 events, America was shocked to see people storming capitol hill. Trump was impeached for the second time after questioning the election result and failing to curb the escalation.
The world watched with mixed emotions as Americans flirted with the idea of a full blown civil war. The Pax Americana was officially over.
Regardless of one’s political views, it was an extremely distressing time for both the American people and its allies.
But wait - there’s more. Donald Trump was suspended from Twitter two days after the Capitol Hill unrest, here’s a screenshot from Twitter Blog:
This all changed when billionaire Elon Musk acquired Twitter. Twitter was, in fact, part of the Democrat’s circle of Media Companies. After all, if they weren’t, they wouldn’t have suspended Trump from their platform.
With Jack Dorsey (Twitter’s founder) out of the picture, Musk transformed Twitter into a “free speech” platform where the common conceptions of “decency” was scrapped in favor of a Tumblresqe approach. X.com is full of degradation, but it does provide users with a place to share their most controversial views without fear of censorship - which is what is needed to contrast the much stronger Democrat circle of friends. And this is why Trump loves X.
We have recently seen how the UK government would crack down on British citizens (at home, and abroad) expressing questionable views on modern society - specifically immigration. Who knows what George Orwell would have said had he been alive today.
We must conclude that the notion of Free Speech has been grossly distorted to favor policymakers - be it Congress, the European Commission, or the good friends of Fleet Street. Free speech is classified as “racist” when it involves Anti-Immigration stances, “Bigoted” when it defies the policymakers’ objectives and “alt-right” when the word “totalitarian” would be the correct adjective.
The Internet has further exacerbated the “Us versus Them” mentality that the democratic process naturally brings about - the Anglo-sphere is trapped in a toxic relationship where both parties don’t even try to talk to each other anymore. It would be even fun to watch if it did not bear such disastrous consequences for the whole world.
But Trump is back on X.com thanks to Elon Musk’s successful Twitter acquisition. And he can go back to sharing his vitriolic attacks on Democrats and the establishment. Hey, at least he has a place to do it now. Not that the Democrats are any better - the game of politics is ruthless and complex. Technology only made it slightly worse.
Durov’s arrest, France, and Russian operations in Africa
Less than 24 hours ago Pavel Durov was arrested in France - both the French Interior Ministry and police had no comment.
Elon Musk and his supporters have already expressed their support for Free Speech, and thus for Durov. Yet the implications of unmoderated free speech for western policymakers is clear: it is much harder to control the flow of information today and this can cause new problems. At the same time, free speech is the cornerstone of Western society. We have, in fact, cultivated the view that the West was in fact better off than the rest of the world thanks to free speech. Therefore, how can Free Speech, Media Control, and national security coexist?
Enter the equation Foreign Policy and, specifically, French foreign policy in Africa. France has never really left Africa but is also a prominent advocate of Free Speech, especially in the West - where left-wing stances have crippled the ability of domestic news outlets to share right-wing perspectives.
France is also experiencing a resurgence in nationalism - it is not by chance that the Front Nationale (now known as the Rassemblement National) led by Marine Le Pen is gaining traction in France. Just look at the EU parliament election results:
But France is not happy to see Telegram in Africa. Because it cannot control it. The Russian group Wagner seems to have a firm understanding of how the app works and exploits its encrypted messaging service to propagate information that serves Russian interests in Africa. What happened in Niger in 2023 and 2024 is a clear example of why the French are not happy to see Telegram being used in their areas of influence.
Specifically, Russia allegedly ran anti-French campaigns in Niger through the Wagner group on Telegram channels in 2023.
This is not the first time that Russians express interest in expanding their influence in Africa: the Soviets were particularly interested in the Niger in the 50s but France had been in control of the region since the 1890s.
The US also has interests in Niger and things have not gone well since the African country opted to side with Russia last year. You can read more in these articles here:
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20240317-niger-revokes-military-cooperation-with-us
Telegram is a platform that favors Free Speech not only in the form of information but also financial services as we can see with their cryptocurrency services. The fact that an app is:
Encrypted
Not controlled by the West
Being used in conflict zones (Ukraine, Niger)
Capable of transferring funds privately
comes at odds with Western interests. Not just domestically, but also, and even more prominently, on the international stage.
Robert Kennedy tweeted this today:
Elon Musk went with these two:
We cannot help but wonder what is going to happen once Foreign Policy needs clash with Western values, specifically Freedom of Speech. Are we going to see Freedom of Speech relegated to Western Countries? Is it going to be a right or a privilege?
Is the notion of “Acceptable Free Speech” going to change in the coming months?
While a lot is at stake, I’m afraid that we are incapable of comprehending the vastness of the implications that this Free Speech philosophical war is having not just in the West, but abroad as well.