We Need to Stop Expecting Billionaires to be Moral
They aren't. The public must hold them accountable.
The infiltration of tech billionaires in President Trump’s inner circle shouldn’t be surprising and is the truest reflection of the values and opportunistic impulses for many tech elites. People need to stop thinking of tech leaders as revolutionary and instead see how they continually impede social progress.
Tech moguls have made their fortunes from trying to hijack trends and stealing data from the average people they no longer are, and they often seem to do this in hopes of pairing together the right customer and corporation through ads based on this mined data. Even children, protected in some cases, are mostly not exempt once over 13. Our life—the photos we post of those we love, the places we live, the stores that we shop at—are all looked at through the lens of money and optimization for many of these wealthy tech oligarchs.
While the public declarations from Mark Zuckerberg—like demanding more “masculine energy” and posting that he is “optimistic and celebrating” on January 20—are new in that they are so transparent, these troubling but bold declarations at least publicize the concerning truth behind tech elites. This scary desire for control is especially evident as Elon Musk has been elevated to a political surrogate.
The motives behind these billionaires is singular: gain power at all costs.
Political power can be different from power available solely through wealth. While New York City has famously seen the two interwoven—like Mayor Michael Bloomberg's decadent and prolonged 12 years as mayor—there isn’t always an overlap. (City Council Members making under $150,000 can axe exorbitantly rich developer's plans.) But Donald Trump’s second term is pairing together tech money and power in a new way and people have to understand the consequences. (Concerningly, just like Bloomberg, Trump is also toying with the idea of a third term.)
Now that there is more transparency around the secret motives of these rich men, people are understanding in public view that the real business of social media is the product that users provide by being themselves. Social media users, of which most Americans are, must understand that virtually nothing profitable on such a large scale can be without its moral failings.
People have to stop expecting rich and powerful billionaires to have their best interests at heart and instead look at the tragedies that are spurred when the single lens of tech focus is profit over people.
The vast majority of tech jobs hinge on the exploitation of its consumers. It can be a life-changing industry for some because of the high pay, and I’m not negating the fact that it can help raise individuals out of poverty. Tech coding classes can be helpful to a variety of communities. I’m not trying to condemn the regular people who are working hard trying to better themselves and their lives in one of the few high-paying industries. I understand the financial need.
But there is also a tremendous amount of greed in the industry. Salaries are exceeding the basics and it becomes about exploiting people for gains. AI has changed the industry, too. Layoffs at Meta are making headlines. The very people who helped grow companies through their knowledge of technology are now facing their own impending doom from these cost-saving measures. Meta specifically pointed the finger at “low performers,” which only adds insult to injury in a tough economy.
I read The Circle by Dave Eggers not too long after it came out more than a decade ago. I remember feeling the shock and horror of the themes but if I read it now, would it even feel dystopian?
So much of our life seems to hinge on connection to an online space. But it’s not lost on me that much of the online world was created by people who were—or felt—ostracized in the real world so created spaces to have total control. Mark Zuckerberg’s “poke” feature is considered “one of the creepiest” feature. (I remember the men who utilized that feature while I was still in high school.)
I’m not saying people have to fully disengage with the social networking sites and products of these wayward men. I actually tried for nearly a decade to disengage. I was off Facebook from around 2015 to 2024. I reactivated it after a loss when I realized many of my photos existed only there. I resisted Instagram until 2022. Ultimately, I decided to subtly reengage with the online world because it is honestly just easier to coordinate and engage with people. But I don’t think I regret my time offline.
What’s feeling scarier than ever is the boldness around money, power, and political control. It feels so brazen.
As Jeff Bezos just announced this week, he’s making changes to the opinion pages in the Washington Post to have “writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.” (Allegedly, according to the paper’s former editor Marty Baron, this change is because Bezos is “basically fearful of Trump.”)
The intertwining of money and politics isn’t new. But the extreme wealth of tech industry “bros” with newfound political power is incredibly concerning. The DOGE cuts continue to shake federal job security.
There has always been a subtle difference between money and power. Of course, someone could have both at once. But now, tech elites have both in unprecedented ways—and that is already having tragic implications for many of us.
Antisocial tech elites, who succeeded by crafting new worlds devoid of the human emotion and empathy that connected us for generations, now get a say over the federal government while still controlling social networking channels.
People need to understand that these tech elites won’t self-police their own behavior; the public must keep them accountable and refuse to look away from the atrocities.
Thanks for reading! Check out my latest piece in Business Insider, “My older brother raised me, and I thought I could pay him back by spoiling his kids. It has created some unexpected issues.”