It is communication at the time of social media. Indeed, it is the transposition in the reality of the most fervent fantasy of a screenwriter of “Black Mirror”, the TV series that imagines future dystopian in which the technological drift takes over on humanity. Donald Trump is the incarnation of the worst nightmares of liberal-democrats of the 1900s: the one who, on the wave of popular emotion, makes slaughter meat of the precepts of a healthy western democracy. It is also the messenger of the new oriental dispute (China and Russia govern through more or less soft dictatorships, supported by a state capitalism). You will understand that, so putting the Boutade of becoming “pope” – a few days before the real election of Pope Leo XIV – is only a note in his design of destabilization of the western democratic status quo. Also because, just as it is passed by “Holy Father”, a second afterwards is represented as “Jedi” ready to fight against enemies of all sorts. In short, we are in the middle of Multiverse.

From Obama to “Pizzagate”

It is communication, beauty – someone would say. It seems yesterday when, in the aftermath of Barack Obama’s election to the presidency of the United States (2008), the democratic and liberal vulgate told how its campaign was the first “social -wheel drive”. For the first time the figure of the Social Media Manager emerged which, after fifteen years, has become the pivot of any political team. But it was a geological era ago: then it was a matter of organizing the content for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. There were no Instagram, Telegram or Tiktok. Above all, there were no artificial intelligence or refined techniques of spreading fake news through targetization of users.

The only large hoax was the alleged birth of Obama outside the US borders, which would have made him ineleble to President. Nothing to do with fake news that have become viral in the following years, such as the theory of Qanon’s conspiracy – a mixture of conspiracy, pedophilia, blood drinkers and pizza. In this sense, the “Pizzagate”, widespread during the 2016 presidential elections, the first won by Trump against Hillary Clinton.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal

At the beginning of the 2000s, he was taked to social networks capable of expanding democratic confrontation. Then it was noticed that they were nothing but invasive and pervasive marketing tools. The turning point came with the Cambridge Analytica case (2013): small communication company that operated in the nascent political marketing based on the data of millions of Facebook users. Between 2013 and 2018 the English company worked on 44 US electoral campaigns, becoming a point of reference for the victory of Donald Trump at the 2016 presidential elections.

It was then that Pulcinella’s secret emerged: the data voluntarily delivered to social platforms are used for marketing, political or commercial purposes. Millions of users were profiled without their knowledge and targeted with ad hoc electoral content. What a scandal appeared in 2013 today is the norm.

From the 5 Star Movement to Morisi’s “Beast”

In Italy we had the experiment of the 5 Star Movement, born from a test (1997-1998) conducted by the CEO of a small communication agency on its employees: decisions fallen from above in the intranet network oriented the internal debate, transforming the diktat into collective will. Years later, the model was exported on a national scale with the internet instead of the Astnet, the social networks and meetings.

Another case of success was Matteo Salvini’s League, whose consent grew up dizzyingly thanks to the “beast” conceived by the social media manager Luca Morisi. We are at the beginning of the 1920s and the ingredients to create consent are the sum of everything that occurred in the early 2000s, with more the artificial intelligence that multiplies content and fake news production (see the Deepfake). More invasive tools than traditional media, very small production costs: consent is now a well -known recipe. The real difference between the sides is to decide whether or not to spread false news.

Thus, more than leaders, the real decision-makers seem to be social media managers, capable of creating consent with effective campaigns. To the point that almost more interviews of their clients release, while politicians seem puppets to exhibit online.

Trump Papa, Truth and a united Europe social network

Returning to Donald Trump “Papa” (after the video of the Gaza Strip transformed into a new Miami), we are at the last frontier of social consent: everything is now admissible, without distinction of scope and without respect for the institutions. Perhaps because the institutions themselves – not all, but many – have lent themselves to the game of likes.

Trump, or whoever for him, know how to use the tool better than others, dictating the times of the international agenda and riding on the trend topics of the moment: today the conclave, tomorrow the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, then who knows what else, always ready to lend the face to a new meme.

Better this way, all in all, of some of our politicians who, ignoring the private nature of the platforms, scream at censorship every time a post is removed. It is already difficult to make taxes pay for taxes of social networks in the countries where they collect hundreds of millions of euros, let alone impose the principles of pluralism of western democracies-just remember the auditions-farsa of Mark Zuckerberg in the Senate USA in 2018, after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Not surprisingly, just ousted from Twitter – Today X of Elon Musk – Trump has created his social network, Truth Social, from which he continues to spread his thoughts, counting on the relaunch of supporters on the major platforms.

Ultimately, the birth of a social platform is now comparable to the foundation of a sovereign state, capable of imposing internal rules. If the US have Facebook, X and Instagram (the types of these social networks are aligned with the Trump administration) and China has Tiktok as a penetration tool in the West, perhaps Europe should also have its own platform. From here, now, cultural hegemony passes.