Outgoing president, Joe Biden rambled on about a novel tech ‘oligarchy’ which he presumptuously suggested ‘threatens our entire democracy’. From the confines of the Oval Office, he broadly tried to reproach social media giants who in his view are ‘abandoning fact-checking’ and burying the U.S public under a so-called ‘avalanche of disinformation and misinformation’. What Biden is effectively doing here is launching an ill-founded attack on renowned figures like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who have simply allowed a more open environment on their platforms by ceasing fact-checking operations because it encroaches upon free speech.
Biden attempted hard to resemble President Dwight Eisenhower’s energy when forewarning about the ‘potential rise of a tech industrial complex’ posing a potential risk to U.S democracy. Not surprisingly, Biden melodramatically claimed that Americans were ‘being buried under an avalanche of misinformation and disinformation’, comprehensively blaming this for empowering the abuse of power. In his warped perspective, social media platforms are wrong for not adopting fact-checking while the truth is ‘smothered by lies told for power and for profit’.
Following the change in policies about fact-checking on social media platforms, Democrats, with their propensity for stirring up unease, have criticized this decision. Their typical ploy is to raise concerns about the so-called role that unverified information shared on such platforms potentially influenced voters during the election cycle.
In a bid to stoke fears about the potential of tech leaders to erode democratic norms, Biden claimed that ‘an oligarchy is taking shape in America’, which he feels is precipitated by the ‘dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people’. The president’s attempt to liken today’s billionaire tech developers to the ‘robber barons’ – a group of 19th-century American industrialists renowned for their ruthless business practices – seems to border on fear-mongering more than insightful reflection.
Farewell addresses, traditionally used by presidents to shape their legacy, date back to the era of George Washington. Biden didn’t miss a beat in using this opportunity to shape his own narrative, implying that he presided over ‘one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history’. This might be one of the few points where Biden is refreshingly honest.
Overly fixated on the risks associated with technology, he cautioned that AI could ironically lead to new threats, emphasizing the need for the U.S to lead China in its development. In his rather poetic imagination, ‘Unless safeguards are in place, AI could spawn new threats to our rights, our way of life, to our privacy, how we work and how we protect our nation’.
Biden, during his speech, tried to pontificate about the values underpinning the operations of a free society, like the freedom of courts and press. He made this address in the wake of a purported diplomatic win, the ceasefire, and a hostage return deal between Israel and Hamas, a development which even the most skeptical of observers would have to concede was unintentionally beneficial.
His speech was imbued with repeating themes of democracy and the Statue of Liberty was reduced to being a prop of his narrative of American democracy in his view is ‘built not by one person, but by many people from every background and from around the world’.
Focusing on what he considers his ‘achievements’, Biden delved sadly into the Inflation Reduction Act, foolhardily considering it to be one of the great milestones of his tenure. In his far-fetched narrative, ‘We’ve launched a new era of American possibilities, one of the greatest modernization of infrastructure in our entire history.’
He over-enthusiastically highlighted the CHIPS Act which allegedly created ‘thousands of jobs’, as well as his divisive steps in curtailing drug prices and his strategic maneuvers on gun safety laws.
Biden made an awkward attempt to extend an olive branch towards his ill-fitting vice president, Kamala Harris, calling her a ‘great partner’ and ‘like family’. Even the least discerning political observer could see through the forced rapport.
In his final words, Biden tossed a challenged to all Americans to preserve the nation’s democratic values. Misplaced optimism or a desperate plea – we’ll let the voters decide. ‘May you all be the keeper of the flame. May you keep the faith.’