Experts React—The Politics of Technology in Trump's Second Term

Since Trump returned to office, the politics of technology have been on full display: tech billionaires at the White House, new surveillance technologies on the streets, international AI deals, crypto ventures and more. To understand the implications of these developments for our future digital society, I asked technology scholars from around the world for their reactions to what they've seen from the second Trump administration so far. Comment by Joanne E. Gray, Editor-in-Chief, Policy yes, the same MGX involved in Stargate, the TikTok deal, and the Nvidia chip purchases (Mallin and Ebbs 2025). The Trump administration's military assault on Iran has also brought renewed attention to the role of advanced weapons and satellite systems in modern warfare, and to the strategic position of the private companies that supply them. For example, in early March this year, Planet Labs, a satellite company whose stated mission is to support climate and environmental research but also holds contracts with US intelligence agencies, announced that it would be placing temporary restrictions on access to satellite imagery in the Middle East for all users during the conflict (Planet Labs PBC 2026). With all of this—and so much more—happening in plain sight, it can be genuinely difficult to know where to focus one's attention. There's no question that, in Trump's second term, wealth is accumulating and power is consolidating around technology. It also seems clear that there will be long-term geopolitical, economic, and institutional consequences for America and for nations all throughout the world. But what is likely to have the most enduring impact? The surveillance infrastructure? The trajectory of the global AI economy? The erosion of democratic norms? All of it and more, perhaps. To help me make sense of this political moment, I asked a range of digital society scholars for their reactions to Trump's second term. Collectively, their responses show the depth and breadth of the challenges ahead, while also offering, here and there, a few glimmers of hope. Here's what they had to say. Under Donald Trump's leadership, the United States is, unfortunately, contributing to the rise of digital authoritarianism worldwide. The Trump administration's recent policies on immigration control, online surveillance, and free speech restrictions could spread more advanced forms of “mass controlling mechanisms, ” serving as a role model and encouraging other governments to pursue greater state surveillance and repression. Repressive agreements between governments and tech giants could compromise privacy, silence dissent, and assert control over individuals, redefining platform governance in a harmful way. This issue is especially concerning in underdeveloped and developing countries with complex social and political contexts, which can ultimately hinder social and economic development. Md. Sayeed Al-Zaman, Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh Just days after Donald Trump assumed office in January 2025 swarms of young men descended on federal offices. They set about grabbing access to and control of sensitive and valuable government data. They also fired thousands of experienced and knowledgeable public servants. This created two vacuums. The first was one of oversight. No one with experience or concerns about corruption or lawlessness would be left in positions of authority in those agencies and offices. And the work those people had done would soon be simulated (and often with terrible results) by systems based on proprietary artificial intelligence, using data that was supposed to be tightly controlled. The data free-for-all would be bad enough. But now the United States government is largely unaccountable, with inscrutable machines making decisions that accountable humans used to make. This legacy will be difficult and expensive to undo. Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor, Media Studies Department, Director of the Center for Media and Citizenship, University of Virginia, United States Trump's second term amplifies the horrors of his first, back when he was still a bit of a joke, the personification of media celebrity behaving badly. Now, he is just plain mean, vindictive, violent and dangerous; surrounded by far-right zealots, issuing executive orders and giving speeches so full of toxic, xenophobic gibberish that the words coming out of his mouth take on their own surreal ‘truth’. What bothers me, as a decolonial scholar and human rights advocate for internet/tech policymaking, is how references to ‘digital rights’ now dominate public discourse, policy agendas and regulation. While evocations of digital rights sound more ‘hip’ than ‘old-fashioned’ human rights, this facile substitution erases from public record the real-time political stakes in what it takes to stay human —be humane—in the AI-besotted internet heartlands. Trump is neither the first, nor last world leader to cuddle up to Big Tech but the hollowness of tech-funded digital rights-speak is a fitting synecdoche for his administrations'co-dependency on abusive, anti-democratic and misanthropic oligopolies. Marianne Franklin, Professor and Chair of Media, Cultural Industries and Society, University of Groningen, Netherlands This video here best expresses the implications of Trump's second term for digital society: https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=dslₛKYywEI. The tech CEOs of some of the world's largest digital corporations lined up behind Trump, showing what critical theorists have always known, namely that behind authoritarianism stands capital and that, therefore, the representatives of digital capital cannot be trusted. Every form of authoritarian rule needs an economic foundation. In the 1930s industrial capital backed, financed, supported, and benefitted from fascist regimes. Today, digital capital, as a hegemonic capital faction, together with financial capital and mobility capital (cars, oil, gas, etc. ) underpins a novel form of authoritarianism, digital authoritarianism. As a consequence, it is time to create, propagate, and use financial means to publicly support platforms that are autonomous from the logic of digital capital. Such alternatives to digital capitalism include, for example, public service Internet platforms, platform co-operatives, digital commons projects, digital public/commons partnerships, etc. http: //bit. ly/psmmanifesto. Christian Fuchs, Professor of Media Systems and Media Organisation, Paderborn University, Germany As a Canadian, the United States that feels itself less beholden to multilateralism and the rule of law – already underway before Trump II – is likely to become more authoritarian in everyday Canada-US relations, reducing the potential for Canada to be able to set digital policy in areas like social media and AI regulation in our interest. But the most significant, long-term effect is likely to come from the lack of accountability extreme wealth concentration is allowing for US tech oligarchs. This will have severe, negative impacts on everything from the direction of tech development to even the possibility of regulating tech companies in the public interest. Blayne Haggart, Professor, Department of Political Science, Brock University, Canada Trump's moral legacy will not be reversed as easily as his policies. By using the presidency to promote unethical AI use, crypto scams, and more, he legitimizes previously unacceptable conduct among tech leaders. This includes using the capital and knowledge gained in consumer and business markets for defense contracting. Oculus founder Palmer Luckey's company Anduril sells AI and robotics to the U. S. Department of Defense. Spotify founder Daniel Ek chairs and co-owns Helsing, which produces strike drones and battlefield AI. And Palantir and SpaceX, owned by Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, have received massive defense contracts under Trump. Defense technology was always developed separately from civilian for ethical reasons. But Trump's legitimization of techno-moral relativism breaks that barrier. Morten Bay, Research Fellow, Center for the Digital Future, University of Southern California United States In an increasingly destabilised geopolitical landscape, nations' reliance on U. S. -owned communication technologies and infrastructures creates a structural point of vulnerability. 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