Trump, Musk, and Zuckerberg have declared war on facts and truth. The pushback must start now 

The effective political capture of information gatekeepers by the Trump administration poses policy questions outside the US

Forcing a recession from trust and safety enforcement within large tech platforms is a key plank of Trump policy, inspired by Elon Musk, in part as a reaction to European regulation. File picture: Justin Merriman/Bloomberg via Getty 

In early 2017, Mark Zuckerberg was on what might be termed an “apology tour” of the United States. 

In the tumultuous few months since Donald Trump won his first presidential victory, the young chief executive of Facebook was reeling from his company’s part in serving US voters Russian disinformation, and widespread accusations that the social media platform had disseminated a vast spray of “fake news”.