Fukuyama: Amplification

We've created a world where everybody can talk, but only a select few people are actually heard. Anybody can start a newsletter or get on social media, but only a few people are ever actually seen. Last week, I interviewed Francis Fukuyama about his new book, and he argued that while free speech is certainly important, the issue facing us today is about amplification. Who gets to be heard? Why did Elon Musk buy Twitter? Because it bought him a megaphone. Musk was already the richest man in the world, and yet he had to sit by the phone and wait for the BBC or CNN to call him. Billions of dollars couldn't get him an audience, but social media could. And so, he bought social media. As long as humans have been alive, some people have been heard more than others. At first, this meant the loudest or the most charismatic voices. But then came the gatekeepers. First, publishers decided who could write a book or get in a newspaper. Then came radio, then TV, and now the internet. Today, Meta and Google control the vast amount of what anybody hears or sees. Everybody can speak. But who gets heard is decided by a few companies changing algorithms and rules. And so, we hear from the influencers and celebrities who know how to make a viral reel. We hear only about those topics that get shared or liked, or don't violate a company's terms of service. And so, our conversation gets narrowed, and the speakers are muted or amplified, depending on what a few gatekeepers actually want.