Since President Donald Trump's return to power, the U.S. media landscape has been roiled. Billionaires close to President Trump are acquiring or reshaping major news outlets and social media (SNS) platforms, with a marked trend toward strengthening conservative leanings. As political influence through the media expands, Trump's direct pressure on critical outlets is also intensifying.
According to Axios on the 18th (local time), a prime example is Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter (now X). The platform has transformed into a space dominated by the voices of Trump supporters, and its political influence has grown. Next, a consortium led by Oracle founder Larry Ellison is pursuing an acquisition of TikTok's U.S. operations. If the transaction goes through, the Trump camp would secure direct influence even over core platforms of youth culture and political organizing.
The Ellison family is already exerting influence over CBS News through Skydance, which acquired Paramount. Ellison's son David appointed a conservative-leaning ombudsman at CBS to review complaints about news coverage. Going further, they are even pursuing an acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, raising the likelihood that some of the most iconic broadcasters in the United States will fall within the sphere of influence of a family allied with Trump.
The shift in attitudes among top media executives is also clear. Meta's Mark Zuckerberg has placed a Trump confidant in a senior role and dismantled the platform's fact-checking program, revising the course. Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, shifted the editorial stance to "free-market advocacy," signaling a move to balance politically. Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times, and Televisa, the major shareholder in Spanish-language broadcaster Univision, have also sharpened a conservative tilt, showing a friendly posture toward the Trump administration.
Trump's pressure on the press is even more overt. He filed a $15 billion defamation suit against The New York Times (NYT), claiming the paper serves as a mouthpiece for the Democratic Party. He also labeled ABC and NBC as if they were organizations under the Democratic Party and floated the possibility of canceling their broadcast licenses. Public broadcasters PBS and NPR were hit by budget cuts in Congress, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) was pushed to the brink of closure.
Despite these shifts, the U.S. press is still pursuing independent reporting. A case in point is Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal (WSJ) running critical coverage of Trump's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The WSJ highlighted the pair's past interactions by publishing a congratulatory letter presumed to have been sent by Trump for Epstein's 50th birthday album, and President Trump denied the report and even filed a $15 billion defamation suit.
Experts said, "It is clear that attempts by billionaire allies of Trump to seize media control are accelerating, but changes in ownership do not immediately guarantee favorable coverage."