How Trump and Big Tech Are Gutting Free Speech: AI, Censorship, and Media Mergers

On the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration—January 20, 2025—the heads of many of Silicon Valley’s most powerful tech firms sat in the rows just behind Trump. It was a sign of Trump’s deep ties to the industry and to these powerful individuals who are transforming how we communicate, and not for the better.  

In this episode, Michael Fox visits Silicon Valley to try to understand the stranglehold that tech has over our media and our airwaves. Hosts Michael Fox and Marc Steiner dig into the ways media consolidation, social media, and AI are strangling our free speech, even as they claim to be liberating it—and us—with incredible insight from professors Todd Wolfson, Mary Anne Franks, Fara Dabhoiwala, Ramesh Srinivasan, and Jeff Cohen, the founder of the organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, FAIR.

The Battle for Free Speech is a production of The Real News Network.

Hosted by Michael Fox and Marc Steiner. Theme music by Michael Fox, Jordan Klein and Daniel Nuñez. Other music from Blue Dot Sessions and Epidemic Sound. Production and Sound Design by Michael Fox and Stephen Frank. Editorial support by Kayla Rivara and Heather Gies. Research by Ben Schweiger.

Guests: 

• Todd Wolfson
• Mary Anne Franks
• Fara Dabhoiwala
• Jeff Cohen
• Ramesh Srinivasan

Resources: 

• Mary Anne Franks’ book, Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment
• Fara Dabhoiwala’s book, What Is Free Speech?: The History of a Dangerous Idea
• Todd Wolfson’s Digital Rebellion: The Birth of the Cyber Left 
• Marc Steiner’s Interview with Jeff Cohen, "How Democrats set the stage for Trump’s assault on free speech”
• You can hear Ramesh Srinivasan’s Utopias Podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts

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