To understand markets and the economy you need to understand how it really works; the where, what, when, why and how of the frictions that make for imperfect markets interreact. That includes politics. But trying to explain these factors is now subject to Social Media censorship – the reality is a distributed Ministry of Truth straight out of 1984. Social media now determines who can talk about markets and what they can say. Referring to incompetent politics gets you banished to the outer limits of conspiracy finance!

Social media is deliberately addictive? Who knew? While markets barely reacted to yesterday’s Product-Liability award against Meta and Alphabet in California, the growing pushback against Big Tech will see valuation multiples diminish over the long run as increased regulation becomes inevitable. Perhaps it’s time to look at how Tobacco firms have evolved to understand the future value of Social Media parasites?

The arrest of Telegram’s Pavel Duroc earlier this week was a significant moment. Are Western Governments going to clamp down on Criminality across Social Media? Its critical they understand how Crypto Shills and Bad-Actor Propagandists have exploited the opportunities presented by Social Media to spin their scams.

Autocracy, Dictatorships, and Kleptocracies are enabled by control of the “truth” – through lies, fake news, and propaganda. We need to be vigilant to the multiple and increasingly sophisticated ways our biases and fears are courted by fake news, and call them out each and every time.