Amid the geopolitical fallout from events earlier this week, the real question I’m sure you’ve been dying to have answered is “What does this mean for Meta!?!”
Well, this week, I’m aiming to answer that very question, as well as what it means for regulations around AI. Plus, there’s news from Australia, where under-16s will be banned from using social media and ChatGPT launching a search feature. Let’s go!
What does Trump’s victory mean for us?
Donald Trump’s vibe on social media, such as it is, is freedom of speech and deregulation around issues such as content moderation. Cynics will argue “sure, as long as he agrees with it”, and there are valid concerns around this – particularly in relation to some of Elon Musk’s behaviours.
But there’s more to digital and social platforms than content moderation; antitrust and dominance have been huge themes of Biden’s administration, and we’ll see changes here.
- Of all the major platforms, Meta has been the most cautious and communicative in its attempts to moderate political advertising. However, Meta has faced far more scrutiny and antitrust measures under Joe Biden’s administration than it did under Trump. It’ll be instructive to see whether or not this stance continues over the next few months. I don’t see the platform easing up on content moderation, but at least targeting might be spared further governmental scrutiny and change.
- Obviously, TikTok has had a turbulent year in relation to the incumbent administration, and Trump’s rhetoric last time around was indeed to ban the platform, largely due to national security. However, he’s since backtracked on this, and one has to assume many within owners ByteDance are quietly confident moving forwards.
- Google is another big player with reasons for cautious optimism following Trump’s election. Trump has only recently commented on how Google has too much power, and has said in vague terms that he “would do something about it”, but he stopped short of any talk around a ban or a breakup. Indeed, Reuters reported this week that he’s expected to dial back existing Antitrust cases against the platform.
- I wouldn’t expect any noteworthy changes for LinkedIn, while the biggest impact for Snapchat and Reddit would probably be less requirement for content moderation. The only challenge here will be what advertisers make of all of it, particularly on a youth dominated platform such as Snapchat.
- And finally, we have X. You’ll already know that Elon Musk was a major supporter of Trump and, he’ll likely argue, a key factor in his victory. Anecdotally, just based on biographies I’ve read, he reminds me a little of a magpie and I can’t help but wonder if having a shiny new governmental role will distract his attention further way from X – which might, ironically, be good news for a platform which needs to rebuild bridges with sceptical advertisers. Musk might be further emboldened in terms of further rolling back content moderation, but I’m not even sure what difference that would make at this point.
What’s Trump’s view on AI?
AI is obviously one of the key themes to life in 2024 going into 2025, but it’s surprisingly one that we haven’t heard loads from Trump on. His previous administration generally supported AI in the context of American competitiveness (in 2019 they launched the American AI Initiative, to admittedly mixed reviews), but there wasn’t really much talk of regulation. But, in fairness, in 2019, discussions around AI regulation were minimal compared to 2024.
Previously, Elon Musk discussed his concerns about AI and how it needs to be regulated, so this could perhaps be a theme of life under Trump if he does indeed become something of a tech tsar. That said, on the campaign trail, Trump alluded to removing some of the AI-related policies either put in place or in development by the Biden administration. VP-elect JD Vance has taken a similar stance.
Further Reading
Elsewhere, Australia has said it plans to ban 16 year olds from social media, but hasn’t yet made contingencies for how this will be enforced. One to certainly keep an eye on.
ChatGPT has launched a search feature. This was announced minutes after last week’s update was sent out and ordinarily would be headline news for me; it could potentially disrupt the search landscape in the short term. I’ll write more on this in the coming weeks.
Meta is rolling out a variety of new ad units which, put simply, will create more flexible and dynamic ads, but will need more creative inputs.
That’s it! If you found this interesting, I would appreciate it if you shared it with your friends and colleagues.
If you’re feeling particularly generous, I won’t stop you from buying me a coffee. Have a great weekend, and I’ll see you next week!