The Information Noose: The Systemic Erasure of the First Amendment

The First Amendment was never just a suggestion... it was the sacred realization by the authors of the American Revolution that the government must not control the flow of information. They knew that the “choking of information” was the primary tool of kings and emperors to control what people thought. But today, in 2026, we are watching a systemic pincer movement where the billionaires buy the pipes and the Presidency squeezes the valves.

1. The Billionaire Monopoly: Privatizing the Town Square

We were promised that the internet would be the ultimate democratizer, ending the reign of media moguls. Instead, we've circled back to a reality where the world's richest men are concentrating control over the very infrastructure of our speech.

• The buying spree. In August 2025, Skydance and Paramount closed their merger, putting CBS under David Ellison, backed by his father Larry Ellison. In January 2026, the TikTok U.S. joint venture closed with Oracle as one of three managing investors. And as I write this, Paramount is bidding for Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent of CNN. (Update: WBD accepted Paramount's offer on February 26, six days after this post first ran.)
• Algorithmic erasure. Information flow is now centralized around a few powerful men who control the algorithms that decide what you see, creating tailor-made realities that prioritize engagement over truth.
• The end of public interest. Since the FCC abolished the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, broadcast journalism has drifted from a government-enforced public service into a profit-maximizing business that rewards opinion and outrage.

2. The Presidential Pincer: Weaponizing the State

The First Amendment is under attack not just by those who own the platforms, but by a Presidency that seeks to manipulate what the public is “allowed to know.”

• Settle or else. In July 2025, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle President Trump's lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview, while its merger was still waiting on federal approval.
• The regulator as enforcer. In September 2025, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly warned ABC and its affiliates that they could handle Jimmy Kimmel “the easy way or the hard way.” Within hours, ABC suspended the show indefinitely.
• Controlling the room. Starting in February 2025, the White House blocked Associated Press journalists from the Oval Office and Air Force One because AP would not adopt the president's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, and it kept barring them even after a court order.
• The “disinformation” pretext. Just as the Church once used its monopoly to control thought, modern power structures use the label of “disinformation” to delegitimize dissent and keep their grip on power.

3. The Great Tug-of-War

We are in a repeat of history. From the printing press breaking the Church's monopoly to the internet breaking the corporate gatekeepers, information has always been a weapon.

The Resistance: Curiosity Over Ideology

The only way to take the power back is to exit the centralized pipes. We have to move toward models that prioritize collective intelligence and curiosity over ideology, rather than letting a few men dictate our definition of truth. That means supporting independent outlets directly, using platforms no single owner can switch off, and following organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation that fight for digital rights in court.

This is about more than one amendment or one policy. When billionaires own the pipes and the Presidency controls the valves, the free flow of information the First Amendment was designed to protect becomes a controlled commodity. The solution isn't to fight within their systems... it's to build new ones.

Sources & Further Reading

• Variety: “Paramount Skydance Deal Closes”, August 2025.
• TechCrunch: “Here's what you should know about the US TikTok deal”, January 23, 2026.
• CNN Business: “With Paramount's winning WBD bid, David and Larry Ellison are amassing a media empire”, February 26, 2026.
• CBS News: “Paramount, President Trump reach $16 million settlement over ‘60 Minutes’ lawsuit”, July 2025.
• NPR: on FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and the Kimmel suspension, September 19, 2025.
• The Free Speech Center at MTSU: “Defying a court order, White House bars AP from Oval Office event” and “Fairness Doctrine”.
• Electronic Frontier Foundation: eff.org.

Sourcing note: the ownership, lawsuit, regulatory, and press-access facts are linked to news reporting. The historical framing and the argument about what it adds up to are my opinion. Revised September 2026: specific citations replaced two general links, and the Warner Bros. Discovery outcome, which came after this post's original date, is marked as an update.

Connect with Casey

Have a story, a question, or want Casey to write about a specific topic? DM me and tell me which story you want next.

Casey writes about free speech, privacy, cybersecurity, nomadic life, and navigating the world as a late-diagnosed AuDHD adult. New posts drop on my professional website.