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Friend,
A healthy democracy is marked by the peaceful transfer of power and protection of fundamental rights — not the corrupt consolidation of wealth and corporate power we witnessed onstage during Trump’s inauguration.
Rather than the traditional showing of senior government officials, Trump reserved space for tech and media billionaires who paid for the privilege of being a part of Trump’s swearing in. Their proximity to Trump served as a telling indicator of the decay that enabled this authoritarian resurgence — and the corruption that’s yet to come.
Let’s take a look at what the billionaires paid to get what they want:
- Twitter owner Elon Musk
- At least $250 million in campaign donations, plus $44 billion to acquire Twitter and manipulate it to boost white-supremacist posts and other Trump-friendly content.1
- The world’s richest man sees blatant corruption as an acceptable cost of doing business, whether it’s for massive federal contracts for SpaceX and Starlink, unfettered West Wing access or the disappearance of federal investigations into his various dealings.
- Perhaps there’s a personal affinity for the neo-Nazi content2 he’s pushed into the limelight … there are no depths Musk won’t stoop to.
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg
- $1 million inaugural donation; abandonment of content moderation;3 a wide-open door to unspeakable harassment of women, people of color and trans kids;4 and a black-tie reception for Trump.
- In exchange for shamelessly pivoting his public image from creep to bro, he’s hoping for — you guessed it — access to government AI contracts and minimal federal oversight.
- Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos
- $1 million inaugural donation, $40 million for a Melania Trump documentary no one asked for,5 and spiking of his paper’s Kamala Harris endorsement.6
- Sold out press freedom in exchange for federal contracts for his space venture Blue Origin,7 and a light regulatory touch for Amazon.
- Google CEO Sundar Pichai
- $1 million inaugural donation.
- No matter the cost, he’s focused on getting high-profile antitrust lawsuits dropped, getting a seat at the table when it comes to shaping AI policy and gaining lucrative federal contracts.8
The billionaires assembled within reach of the new president are living proof of the dangers of a consolidated media system.
In his farewell address, President Biden warned that “Americans are being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation enabling the abuse of power... Social media is giving up on fact-checking. The truth is smothered by lies told for power and for profit.”
A healthy democracy requires a healthy media. And you can’t have that when greedy tech billionaires control far too much of it. In pursuing the MAGA grift, the richest men on the planet have put a price on your individual liberties.
The work of repairing the damage of the coming years will be difficult but essential.
Free Press believes that even in dark times there are opportunities to continue advancing our work. We must derail and disrupt any efforts to roll back decades of hard-won progressive wins. In 2025 and beyond, we are committed to being honest about what is happening in this country and challenging the oligarchs at every turn — including taking our fight to the states, reclaiming free speech from far-right censors and finding strength in our communities.
In solidarity,
All of us at Free Press
P.S. The billionaires’ objective is to burn us out, shut us down and send us running. We will not give them that satisfaction, and we hope you’re with us.
1. “Media and Tech Billionaires Helped Elect Trump — and Now They're Ready to Serve,” Free Press, Nov. 15, 2024
2. “Right-Wing Extremists Are Abuzz Over Musk’s Straight-Arm Salute,” Rolling Stone, Jan. 20, 2025
3. “Meta's Abandonment of Content Moderation and Fact Checking Points to a Chilling New Era of Big Tech Capitulation,” Free Press, Jan. 7, 2025
4. “Meta Now Lets Users Say Gay and Trans People Have ‘Mental Illness,’” WIRED, Jan. 7, 2025
5. “Melania’s $40m Amazon Deal: Another Sign Bezos Is Capitulating to Donald Trump,” The Guardian, Jan. 10, 2025
6. “Our Endorsement: Save Journalism from the Billionaires,” Free Press, Oct. 29, 2024
7. “Blue Origin, SpaceX, ULA to Compete for $5.6 Billion in Pentagon Launch Contracts,” Space News, June 13, 2024
8. “White House Memo on U.S. Leadership in AI Signals Opportunities for Government Contractors,” Holland & Knight, Oct. 30, 2024
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