28th January 2025
To kick off 2025 the forthcoming inauguration of Donald Trump and his ambitious plans and social media influences aired on the Greg Hughes Show, Seamus Gunn opening with the line “we are heading into unchartered waters” with the sabre-rattling of Donald Trump in eyeing up Greenland, the Panama Canal and the Gulf of Mexico, to be followed by Canada. Greg Hughes was of the view that this was a negotiation position taken up by Trump to strengthen his hand while Seamus Gunn countered that the President elect had no business in Greenland, that he was delving into European territory, while Putin was watching closely. He said that it was fascinating to observe the role that social media was now playing in world politics, referencing the U-turn by Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, changing his attitude to Trump as his inauguration looms and starting to beat the drum of deregulation. Elon Musk of X was also referred to with the vast influence he has with over 200 million followers.
Greg Hughes highlighted the point that the sentiments being expressed in relation to regulation and the sovereignty of countries and protecting their own lands was shared by a lot of people, but while our contributor Seamus Gunn readily accepted the point, he said that it was the hijacking of the social media platforms with fake news to influence vast numbers of followers on right wing issues that he objected to and that he thought had to be curtailed. He referenced the new EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath from Ireland and the brief that he now had to enforce on the Digital Services Act, making the point that by the time they came around to investigating an overamplification of content on a social media platform, the damage could already have been done and if it was in the context of an election, then the result could be in place before any action is taken. No doubt this will be a hot topic going forward in 2025.
The full discussion and Q&A that followed can be listened to below: