Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy

E383. Big Tech Owns Society Now - Jacob Siegel

Mar 26, 2026
Jacob Siegel, journalist and author of The Information State, explains how digital censorship and algorithmic control are reshaping politics. He traces the repurposing of counterinsurgency tools into a disinformation war, the origins of platform power from Pentagon projects, COVID’s radicalizing censorship, and why freedom may have to be asserted from inside technology.
Ask episode
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
INSIGHT

Disinformation As Repurposed Counterinsurgency

  • The war on disinformation repurposed counterinsurgency tools from the War on Terror to control domestic opinion.
  • Jacob Siegel traces this evolution from post-9/11 military techniques to algorithmic attempts at mass mind-shaping online.
ADVICE

Limit News Intake To Preserve Deep Attention

  • Take in less news to preserve attention and mental capacity for deep reading and reflection.
  • Siegel limits daily news, skims headlines, and prioritizes books because constant feeds fragment attention and prevent sustained thought.
ADVICE

Shrink Your Online Social Radius

  • Exit portions of the 'insane asylum' of mass online social exposure by shutting doors and reducing social connections.
  • Siegel points to Dunbar's number (~150) and says scaling affective ties to millions is physiologically unsustainable.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Get the app