Meet Your Overlords: The End of Public Truth

A Deep Dive into Narrative Warfare, Censorship, and the New Empire of Control

Andi Roach

Jun 17, 2025

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The Search For Truth

Americans don’t trust the news. According to Gallup, only 34% of the country believes the media reports the truth. In the last five years, we’ve seen a mass collapse of traditional journalism: BuzzFeed News shuttered, Vice filed for bankruptcy, NPR and local outlets slashed teams. Meanwhile, major platforms like Meta and Google control what the public consumes. YouTube demonetizes dissenting voices. Instagram’s algorithm buries content about reproductive rights, protest, and Palestine. Threads promotes “safe” lifestyle content while throttling political speech. And yet? We’re told this is just the cost of a cleaner feed.

People are turning to alternative outlets like Substack, podcasts, and independent creators; not because they trust them implicitly, but because they know they can’t trust what’s been sanitized by profit.

More Americans than ever believe they are being manipulated. Fewer than ever believe they are being informed.

The Rise & Sale Of Corporate Media

To understand the mess we’re in now, we must go back to the 1970s and '80s, when American media was still largely local, diverse, and rooted in journalism as a public good. That changed under the Reagan administration with deregulation and the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, opening the floodgates to partisan programming on radio and TV. This marked the beginning of infotainment, the rise of talk radio, cable news echo chambers, and the end of balanced coverage as a legal requirement.

In the 1990s and 2000s, media conglomerates devoured smaller outlets. Regulators approved mergers while working for the same corporations they were supposed to oversee. GE, Disney, Viacom, NewsCorp, Time Warner, and Comcast became information empires. The price of entry into mainstream media meant complying with their rules.

By 2010, Citizens United cemented the marriage between media and money. Political donors funded think tanks, PR machines, and entire newsrooms. Stories weren’t just being told, they were being engineered.

The New Era: Algorithms, Targeting & Behavioral Control

The rise of social media wasn’t just a tech leap; it was a cognitive revolution. Facebook’s “Like” button, launched in 2010 and quickly became a dopamine-driven behavior loop powering one of the most potent influence machines in history. From 2010 to 2014, Facebook’s ad revenue jumped from $1.86 billion to over $11 billion. Its microtargeting capabilities let advertisers and political operatives reach users by behavior, emotion, life events, location, and political views just based on their clicks, comments, and habits.

Obama’s 2012 campaign used this to increase voter turnout. But it was Cambridge Analytica in 2016 that revealed the darker side of social media, harvesting data from 87 million Facebook users without consent, and using AI psychographics to provoke tribalism and fear. A 2020 Channel 4 News investigation found that 3.5 million Black Americans in swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania were explicitly labeled as “Deterrence” and targeted with negative ads about Hillary Clinton to dissuade them from voting at all. These voters were fed disinformation designed to demobilize, not persuade; and in places like Milwaukee, turnout dropped by tens of thousands.

The campaign worked. Trump won. And the playbook went global.

Political ad spending on Facebook hit $284 million in 2018, over $100 million came from dark-money PACs. Cambridge Analytica was dissolved, but the infrastructure it built is now baked into nearly every social platform. By 2020, six companies owned 90% of U.S. media. Local news was gutted. Algorithms became editors. And truth became a branding decision.

The Algorithm Is The Enforcer

Algorithms don’t just curate content. They curate belief. They reward outrage, punish nuance, and optimize for dopamine. Speak the truth about racism, gender violence, or imperialism and your reach shrinks. Post a hot take, you trend.

According to a 2024 Guardian report, Instagram and Facebook consistently promote misogynistic, hateful, and right-wing content, even for accounts with no engagement history. Internal experiments showed Meta flags posts by feminist creators, queer activists, and racial justice organizers as “low quality” regardless of accuracy or tone.

A 2022 MIT Technology Review found TikTok deprioritized LGBTQ+ and Black Lives Matter content. Palestinian journalists have documented shadowbanning for using terms like “Free Palestine.” Black creators have shared evidence of being penalized for calling out racism.

When people tell the truth and others recognize it, power structures begin to collapse. That’s why they fear it.

Surveil, Extract, Comply

Enter the birth of a new industrial order: The Cognitive Extraction Economy. Where your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors are mined and fed into AI models that forecast political leanings, suppress resistance, and reinforce division.

Maximize Extraction

Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Chicago pioneered behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, fields once designed to help people make better health choices. Now, the same nudges are used to manipulate, addict, and control.

The Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, where Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger once studied, helped design habit-forming systems now embedded across TikTok, Amazon, and Amazon’s UX.

In 2022 alone, companies spent over $500 billion globally on digital ads, not buying space, but buying behavior.

Workplace Surveillance

Surveillance capitalism is embedded in your job under the guise of improving “efficiency. “ The reality is it’s algorithmic obedience enforcement, designed to extract every moment into profit-boosting output.

Amazon tracks bathroom breaks, using predictive firing algorithms.
Microsoft scores productivity using email and meeting data.
Startups like ActivTrak, Behavox, and Teramind analyze tone and chat patterns to predict “compliance risk.”

From Labor to Law Enforcement

Palantir, founded by Peter Thiel, powers ICE deportation systems and predictive policing. Its Gotham platform ingests billions of data points. In 2025, it secured over $1 billion in new federal contracts with DOD, DHS, and ICE. Their models now flag “extremists,” including climate activists, racial justice organizers, and journalists.

The Propaganda Playbook: Project 2025, backed by the Heritage Foundation and dark money networks, is a roadmap for narrative control.
It proposes:
Replacing civil service with political appointees trained in message discipline
Eliminating independent science communication
Using government platforms for propaganda
Truth becomes threat. Dissent becomes extremism.

The Overlords Of Narrative Warfare

Meet the billionaires, corporations, and dark money networks behind the machine:

Peter Thiel: Palantir founder, $1B+ in contracts in 2025, $30M+ to far-right candidates
Eric Schmidt: Ex-Google CEO, now funding military AI and advising Pentagon policy
Marc Andreessen & Reid Hoffman: Fund AI deregulation & surveillance startups
Ken Griffin: $100M+ to right-wing causes
Comcast, Disney, ViacomCBS, NewsCorp: $14M+/year on lobbying
Rupert & Lachlan Murdoch: Fox, NewsCorp, admitted they knowingly spread election lies

Backed by:

The Heritage Foundation
American Action Network, Club for Growth, Turning Point USA
DonorsTrust

Amplified by:

Meta, YouTube, and algorithmic gatekeepers.

The Escalation of Censorship in the Current Administration

In recent years, censorship has taken on a new form under the current administration. Journalists are no longer simply reporting the news, they’re navigating a landscape where access to information is meticulously controlled. The administration has been known to hand-pick which journalists get access to White House briefings, ensuring that only those who align with the desired narrative are given a platform. Meanwhile, journalists who challenge or question are swiftly sidelined or even fired. This strategic curation of the press corps not only shapes the stories that reach the public but also reinforces the administration’s control over the national narrative.

ABC News’s Terry Moran Fired for Criticizing Trump Aide

Veteran ABC correspondent Terry Moran was let go in June 2025 after posting on X that President Trump and advisor Stephen Miller were “world-class haters.” ABC cited its objectivity policy as justification; but many argue the firing reflects broader pressure from the administration. Moran himself claims ABC backed out of a contract renewal once the Trump White House reacted negatively.

Why it matters:

This isn’t just a matter of editorial standards, it’s an example of a journalist being penalized for foundational reporting and criticism. By firing a high-profile correspondent who directly challenged the administration, it sends a chilling message to media outlets: dissent may cost you your job.

White House Barred the Associated Press from Key Briefings

In early 2025, the White House indefinitely banned Associated Press reporters from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and pool events because the AP refused to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America” as demanded by the administration.

The AP sued, and a court temporarily ordered reinstatement, but the White House appealed, maintaining the block.
They later revoked permanent pool positions for wire services like AP, Reuters, and Bloomberg, allowing the administration to pick and choose who covers major events.

Why it matters:

This is not benign reshuffling, it’s direct viewpoint-based exclusion aimed at controlling who gets to witness and report the president’s actions. It undermines the pretense of a free press.

The Laws Are Being Rewritten In Real Time

In 2025, Congress introduced Subtitle C, a clause exempting AI firms from regulation for 10 years. If passed, it would shield OpenAI, Meta, and Google from lawsuits, including over copyright and surveillance. That same week, Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, was fired by Trump via email after refusing to censor books or back away from DEI support. Hayden was replaced by DOJ loyalists. The Copyright Office was gutted and authors sued.

The Dismantling Of Science

The CDC, WHO, and other agencies have had data portals scrubbed. Archives on vaccinations, reproductive health, and environmental hazards are locked behind paywalls or erased. Scientific press offices were replaced by message managers.

When facts can’t be deleted, they’re drowned, flooded by noise, derailed by trolls, and hidden under paid narratives. It’s the privatization of information and the algorithmic curation of reality. This is what it looks like when truth is for sale.

Looking To The Future

The future won’t arrive with fire and fury, it will drift in, cloaked in convenience and distraction. AI firms will continue to shape the rules, writing legislation that serves their profit margins, not public interest. Survivor stories of abuse, injustice, and resistance will be buried by algorithms that prioritize comfort over confrontation. Truth will become a luxury brand: polished, selective, and sanitized for consumer appeal.

Science will no longer be a shared language, it will be reduced to a partisan talking point, available for subscription or dismissal. Dissent won’t be banned, it’ll just be buried. And our collective memory, once preserved by journalists, educators, and archivists, will be overwritten by platforms with no accountability and limitless power.

How To Fight Back

1. Diversify your sources. Use RSS feeds, follow Substacks, and support real journalists.

2. Follow the money. If it benefits the powerful, dig deeper.

3. Spot the manipulation. If everyone’s saying the same thing, it’s probably the algorithm. (check out the “trope tracker” below)

4. Watch for AI disinfo. Stick to verified sources like Snopes, Bellingcat, EFF.

5. Virality ≠ Truth. Follow nuance, not dopamine.

6. Use browser tools.

Ground News → compares bias
NewsGuard → verifies source credibility
TrackTheNews → flags narrative manipulation

7. Follow real experts:

Final Thought

If this feels overwhelming, it’s because it’s meant to. The algorithm isn’t just curating what you see; it’s shaping what you believe, how you feel, and whether you act. It’s meant to numb, isolate, and discourage you. To flood your mind until resistance feels futile.

But that’s where they lose.

Because the antidote to manipulation is connection. The antidote to exhaustion is community. And the antidote to censorship is relentless, inconvenient, unapologetic truth.

You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to stay awake.

If this helped you connect the dots

Join the Rebellion! Your clicks aren’t just clicks. Your engagement, likes, comments, and shares fight the algorithm that protects the Overlords.