Europe cannot afford to lose its national media to Big Tech’s data colonialism

Communication as the nervous system of society

I was trained to see communication as the nervous system of society – essential both for the health of democracy and for the craft of persuasion in advertising, brand trust, ethical marketing, and consumer engagement. My early influences were Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman, who warned against blind techno-optimism, and David Ogilvy, who built campaigns on research and truth. Ogilvy’s classic reminder—“The consumer is not a moron, she is your wife”—urged respect for audience intelligence.

Yet today, in the haze of algorithm-driven feeds and AI-generated voices, the idea that technology inevitably brings progress feels naïve, almost quaint.

Progress is not a straight line

We are told, in politics, business, and even climate debates, that innovation will solve our problems. Progress is presented as an unbroken, upward curve, the product of human mastery over nature. But history shows that progress is uneven, and its benefits conditional. A new technology may help us cut emissions—or bring us together—but it can also deepen inequality, erode trust, or corrode democratic norms. Technological advancement is not a straight road toward the good. It has hairpin bends, blind corners... and increasingly, head-on collisions with truth itself.

Nobel prize winners Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, in Power and Progress, remind us that technologies rarely default to bringing widespread prosperity. They serve those who control them.

Post-truth and the machinery of disinformation

The so-called “post-truth” era has upended what once felt like a stable understanding of reality. We used to have two categories: truth and lies. Now there is a third—statements not rooted in fact but presented as truth because the speaker believes them. This is not harmless delusion; it's calculated manipulation. Algorithms amplify self-proclaimed “experts” and influencers pushing financial tips and cosmetic fantasies with equal confidence and equal lack of evidence.

This contradiction is striking. A recent WPP and IPA study found that influencers and creators are now among the most important digital brand-building channel, with a short-term return on investment comparable to TV. The same ecosystem that erodes factual integrity also sustains modern brand communication. It’s a paradox of our age: influence has never been more valuable, or more vulnerable to misuse.

Oxford’s 2024 Word of the Year, brainrot, perfectly captures the feeling of cognitive decay brought on by endless scrolling. Cory Doctorow’s book Enshittification explores this decline in quality and user value on major digital platforms.

Journalism in the age of speed over substance

The role of journalism—built on ethics of truth-seeking, independence, and accountability—has been corroded. The race to be first overtakes the duty to be accurate. Headlines are posted before facts are checked; nuance and context are sacrificed. Meanwhile, advertising, once about making the truth fascinating, often trades on hollow spectacle.

That’s why campaigns like the one by Newsworks, the UK’s newspaper marketing body, matter. Its emotional film shows journalists in the field—from war zones to local councils—to remind us that truth has both a face and a cost. It’s a quiet counterpoint to algorithmic noise, reminding audiences and advertisers alike that quality journalism is not a commodity but a public service. Every campaign that supports it becomes a small act of resistance against disinformation.

Self-regulation under pressure

Unchecked technological growth is not abstract. Deepfakes, algorithmic targeting, and generative AI shape not just what we buy—but what we believe. Remember Cambridge Analytica. The advertising industry insists on self-regulation, but how realistic is that when it depends on the very technologies that make manipulation easy? In the U.S., political influence on digital media has further blurred the lines between information, ideology, and profit—a warning of how fragile truth becomes when power and communication merge.

According to Gallup (2025), trust in mass media in the United States has fallen to a historic low. The graph below highlights not only this overall decline but also a stark political divide—with trust among Republicans plunging far below that of Democrats.

Recent Edelman Trust data shows that while around 80% of consumers trust the brands they use, barely half believe those brands tell the truth. This widening 'trust delta' is precisely what technology can accelerate if left unchecked.

Even the pioneers of AI are alarmed. Geoffrey Hinton left Google in 2023 to warn about misuse at scale and the existential risks of unregulated systems. Whistleblowers like Frances Haugen remind us that democratic safeguards are lagging behind the technologies reshaping public discourse.

National media as anchors of trust in a data-colonised world

Joop van den Ende — the Dutch theatre and television entrepreneur who co-founded Endemol, later built Stage Entertainment into one of Europe’s leading live-entertainment companies, and understands global media economics — recently placed full-page ads in Dutch newspapers with a clear warning: the country’s national media are under threat.

His message was directed not only at government, but also at publishers, companies and the advertising industry — a call to action to support trusted journalism.

Backing public broadcasting and print media, he argued, is not protectionism but self-preservation. Without them, Europe risks sliding into digital dependency, where truth and attention are mined elsewhere.

The deeper stakes for Europe

1. Trust – National media remain among the few institutions still trusted by the public. When they weaken, trust in all communication declines.
2. Pluralism – A diverse press guarantees a diversity of viewpoints. Algorithmic curation is not pluralism.
3. Quality and accountability – Journalists operate under law and scrutiny; platforms answer only to metrics.
4. Advertising equity – Each euro spent locally sustains domestic journalism instead of disappearing into programmatic systems abroad.
5. Consumer protection – Traditional media sell ideas, not identities. They inform audiences rather than harvesting their data.

Truth will not defend itself

If we care about democracy and the integrity of communication — whether in the newsroom or the advert — we must reject the lazy faith that more technology always equals progress. Defending truth is no longer someone else’s task. It belongs to all of us — and it must begin now.

What we can do

For those in marketing, media and advertising, that means reconsidering the ecosystems we sustain. Every campaign, every placement, shapes the information environment it funds.

If digital platforms deliver only fleeting attention, then supporting national media — in print and broadcasting — is not nostalgia but strategy. These trusted channels provide context, credibility and depth: qualities that build both brands and democracy.

Supporting verified media is therefore more than purpose; it is responsibility. To keep communication as society’s nervous system, we must feed it with what keeps it alive — trust, truth and time.