Control the Media and Suppress Free Speech
Kleptocrats flourish in the darkness. They use heavy handed tactics to keep the public from discovering their corruption scandals and abuses of power, knowing that this could lead to mass public opposition to their rule. They systematically crackdown on independent media and civil society organizations that could expose their corrupt acts, question their official narratives, sway public opinion against the regime, and challenge unlawful actions in court. They peddle in propaganda, conspiracy, and fringe theories to bury real scandals. They prop up media outlets and civil society organizations that are loyal to their carefully controlled messages and call independent journalists and activists "enemies of the state" or "terrorists". Kleptocrats have a special relationship with data as well; they manipulate data to hide mistakes and harvest data to surveil political and economic competition.
Limitations, control, and retaliatory litigation
Kleptocrats fear independent, unfettered, and pluralistic media. In carrying out its watchdog role, independent media organizations scrutinize those in power, investigate and report on matters of public interest, and serve as a check on propaganda. Given the power of independent media to expose corruption and contribute to holding powerful actors to account, it is no surprise that the Trump administration has systematically limited its access to the president and senior officials, all the while expanding access for so-called "new media" that proudly serve and amplify his administration's positions.
Targeting fact-checkers and disinformation watchdogs
Trump's and Republican allies have long characterized efforts to counter mis-, dis-, and mal-information (MDM) as attacks on free speech and the suppression of conservative views. In 2022, Republicans created the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. House Republicans turned their sights on the Stanford Internet Observatory, which studied election-related rumors and disinformation, and other academic and research institutions dedicated to illuminating how misinformation spreads on social media, messaging apps, and other online venues. House Republicans also targeted content moderation systems at Big Tech companies for alleged suppression of First Amendment-protected free speech in coordination with the Biden administration and scrutinized efforts by federally supported non-profits, such as the National Endowment for Democracy, to mitigate the corrosive effects of “fake news.” The attacks continued after Trump began his second administration in January 2025.
Turning independent regulators into weapons for political retaliation
Charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the primary US authority for communications law, regulation, and technological innovation. The FCC’s stated mission is to make available "without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges."
Data production, stewardship, and privacy
Kleptocrats suppress or hide data that might reveal poor performance, acts of corruption, or support opposing viewpoints. Over the last quarter-century, Russia's autocratic leader Vladimir Putin has made masterful use of this strategy, dismissing credible experts and staffing statistical agencies with apparatchiks in order to stifle any negative information related to military setbacks, economic downturns, the misuse of public funds, electoral fraud, brutal repression, or environmental damage. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, Russia under-reported its official death tolls by half.
Kleptocrats do not stop at taking control of official data. They also work to control your data. Knowing the who, what, when, where and how of personal lives allows them to establish a surveillance state that can be used to control the public and suppress dissent. In China, personal data is harvested by the state to assess and regulate the trustworthiness of citizens as a "social credit score" that could potentially be used to determine employment, travel opportunities, finance access and the ability to enter into contracts.
On both fronts—controlling official data and your data—the Trump Administration’s actions are deeply troubling.