Citations Needed Ep 234: TikTok, Gen Z's Move to Social Media and Elite Panic Over Unsanctioned News
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Feb 4, 2026 Omar Zahzah, writer and assistant professor who studies Arab Muslim diasporas and digital settler colonialism. He discusses elite panics over unmediated media and the long history of controlling information. He unpacks TikTok’s forced sale, how Gaza’s visibility drove platform crackdowns, and how terms of service and AI are being used to silence dissenting narratives.
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Elite Panic Over Unsanctioned Media
- Elites repeatedly panic when information flows escape traditional gatekeepers, framing dissent as "misinformation."
- That panic often masks political motives to suppress narratives inconvenient to power.
Historical Roots Of Media Control
- Rising literacy and print in 16th–17th century England triggered elite fears about 'false news.'
- Early state censorship aimed to maintain the state's narrative and marginalize the "vulgar."
State Targeting Of Radical Papers
- The Rag and The Black Panther show how the US targeted radical community papers during the Vietnam era.
- FBI and courts pressured and criminalized these outlets to suppress organizing and funding.
