How big tech and populism are upending ‘western values’

From the US to Europe, the rules of the electoral game are in flux amid an epochal shift

The highly tense and polarised situation within the US and EU raises unprecedented challenges, especially amid the ongoing shifting of the global order from a unipolar to a multipolar one.

Since the beginning the of the 21st century, the world has been embroiled in a series of crises: the war on terror, the global financial crisis, intensifying climate change, a worldwide pandemic, and a renewed great-power competition.

This uneasy landscape has been further complicated by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, of which artificial intelligence is the most compelling and pervasive example, alongside the crisis of globalisation, the rise of China and the start of the second Trump administration.

On the latter point, US President Donald Trump is now contesting, if not repudiating, the same world order that Washington created, managed and enforced over the past eight decades. His administration is wielding its new army of big tech companies in an alleged pursuit of a political, economic, cultural and social metamorphosis of humankind.

It is not yet clear whether these big tech players will be a tool in the hands of Trump’s “America First” vision, or vice versa.

As the late former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, remarked seven years ago: “Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretences. It doesn’t necessarily mean that he knows this, or that he is considering any great alternative. It could just be an accident.”

New words have emerged in the current lexicon to explain this epochal change, such as techno-feudalism, techno-optimism and “Dark Enlightenment”. A cast of characters from big tech – somewhere between CEOs and gurus – are now influencing politics, economics and the relationship between humans and technology to an unprecedented degree.

‘Shadow empire’

Some of these figures are in the spotlight daily, such as Tesla’s Elon Musk, Open AI’s Sam Altman and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, while others seem more comfortable leading from behind the scenes. Some are perceived as the vanguard of “reactionary acceleration”, while others, like Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, who mentored Vice President JD Vance, portrays this period as the “dusky final weeks of our interregnum” – or, if you prefer, the last days of an ancien regime; a sort of twilight, or worse, an apocalypse.

It may be that change of era of which the late Pope Francis warned five years ago in his astute encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” (All Brothers).

Both European and American liberal-democratic establishments believe this change brings a fundamental threat to democracy and western societies, along with the “values” upon which they are built.

As the late former secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, remarked seven years ago: “Trump may be one of those figures in history who appears from time to time to mark the end of an era and to force it to give up its old pretences. It doesn’t necessarily mean that he knows this, or that he is considering any great alternative. It could just be an accident.”

New words have emerged in the current lexicon to explain this epochal change, such as techno-feudalism, techno-optimism and “Dark Enlightenment”. A cast of characters from big tech – somewhere between CEOs and gurus – are now influencing politics, economics and the relationship between humans and technology to an unprecedented degree.

‘Shadow empire’

Some of these figures are in the spotlight daily, such as Tesla’s Elon Musk, Open AI’s Sam Altman and Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, while others seem more comfortable leading from behind the scenes. Some are perceived as the vanguard of “reactionary acceleration”, while others, like Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, who mentored Vice President JD Vance, portrays this period as the “dusky final weeks of our interregnum” – or, if you prefer, the last days of an ancien regime; a sort of twilight, or worse, an apocalypse.

It may be that change of era of which the late Pope Francis warned five years ago in his astute encyclical “Fratelli Tutti” (All Brothers).

Both European and American liberal-democratic establishments believe this change brings a fundamental threat to democracy and western societies, along with the “values” upon which they are built.

They seem terrified by the possible rise of what has been described brilliantly, but disturbingly, as a “shadow empire” driven by big tech magnates. At the same time, the rise of far-right movements in the US and Europe is seen as a clear and present danger that requires a “whatever it takes” approach to keep these parties out of power.

These widespread fears could explain some unprecedented developments in recent months in France, Germany and Romania.

In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally made significant gains in last year’s legislative elections, despite a massive mobilisation against the party – but now a criminal conviction could derail her future political prospects.

In Germany, a similar mobilisation occurred against the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), but the party still managed to double its vote share in February elections. Yet it now risks being banned after Germany’s spy agency classified AfD as “extremist”, allowing for increased state monitoring.

Populists on the rise

The most stunning event, however, was in Romania, where presidential elections were cancelled by the country’s constitutional court last December after the first round was won by far-right candidate Calin Georgescu, amid allegations of Russian interference.

Among the evidence cited in the declassified Romanian intelligence documents used to justify this decision was a coordinated TikTok campaign – but an investigative report later revealed that the centre-right National Liberal Party had paid for the campaign, which was hijacked to benefit Georgescu, who was subsequently banned from standing in the new election.

Paris, Berlin and Bucharest have thus provided compelling examples of what “whatever it takes” might mean. Amusingly, such behaviour drew criticism from Vance – not exactly a champion in the observance of democratic values – during his recent speech at the Munich Security Conference.