How billionaires take control of global media machine, by Aderemi Ogunpitan

Billionaires and corporations now control the worlds media machine. What we watch, read, and think no longer flows from independent voices but from a handful of men whose empires shape the global narrative. This is systematic, profit-driven, and corrosive.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Fox empire have long tilted politics and public opinion. Elon Musk turned Twitter into X and reshaped its algorithms at will, showing how a single billionaire can alter global discourse. His Starlink battle in South Africa exposed how even internet access becomes political, when regulators demanded compliance with localised regulations and rules, Musk dismissed it as discrimination.

In Africa, Vincent Bolloré’s Canal+ has completed a $2.9 billion takeover of MultiChoice, the continent’s largest pay-TV network. The deal, cements his grip on African screens, even as he faces lawsuits in France for alleged corruption and money laundering tied to his African operations.

South Africa’s Koos Bekker, through Naspers and MultiChoice, built a vast empire while lobbying to maintain dominance and block competition. Figures like Iqbal Survé and Mzwanele Manyi used newspapers and TV stations to advance business and political agendas, narrowing space for independent journalism.

This concentration of ownership ensures profit and power dictate stories, while dissenting voices fade.

Authoritarian leaders thrive in such environments because citizens consume curated narratives that feel free but are engineered. Open ideas and conversations cannot survive on this diet. Unless societies back independent journalism, demand transparency, and diversify their sources, freedom will erode not by decree but by the quiet efficiency of billionaires who own the machine.

And, that is the way authoritarianism becomes the order of the day. Its a playbook. Own the media, control the minds and the narrative.