Silicon Valley and the New Oligarchy: Tech Power, Citizens United and Democracy

Isabelle Powell | United States Fellow

Imaged sourced via Tomas Martinez via Unsplash

Silicon Valley once represented a generation of the world's most innovative young minds, working to create solutions for the collective good of humanity. Google’s former motto ‘don’t be evil’ enshrined this philosophy: protect users from corporate greed, and ensure the company maintains its ethics before profit. Yet today, the tech industry, motivated by sustaining its ever soaring-profits, has evolved to wield increasingly unfettered political influence. Not only does it control the dissemination of political information and news through its devices and platforms, but it increasingly influences the election of candidates through strategic campaign financing, made possible by the 2010 Supreme Court ruling Citizens United.

The Neutrality of the Ballot Box

In a democracy, the ballot box should be a neutral place where democracy unfolds and every vote is weighted equally. But in a post-Citizens-United world, elections are increasingly influenced by wealthy individuals’ economic power. 

For his 2025 inauguration, President Trump broke fundraising records, receiving more than $245 million in donations, most significantly from technology companies such as Google, Amazon, Meta and Apple and numerous artificial intelligence (AI) giants. Overall, technology interests gave approximately $44.6 million.

It is clear that Silicon Valley is no longer just an industry, but an emerging political power. While 60% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, a small number of elite technology companies are shaping democratic outcomes with little accountability. Yet, in a country that seeks to be defined by its democratic institutions and ideals, this is not the first time the United States has not lived up to its democratic promise. 

For much of its history, the right to participate in democracy was restricted, therefore resembling a hybrid regime: Black Americans were excluded through slavery and later by Jim Crow voter suppression laws, and women were denied the right to vote until 1920. American democracy has never been a static achievement, but  rather a project to be maintained through constant struggle and reform. Yet, what distinguishes this current moment is the presence of rapidly expanding technological infrastructure and extreme levels of wealth inequality. 

Last year, Tesla, with a net worth of $1.26 trillion and an annual income of $5.7 billion, paid exactly zero in federal income tax, all while benefitting from billions in government contracts, loans, tax credits and subsidies. Financial reports reveal that other companies such as Amazon, Alphabet, Meta took home a collective tax profit of $51 billion. It is from these skyrocketting levels of profit that tech players yield their influence in the political realm, and skew the participation of all citizens in a free and fair democracy. It is crucial that we create and maintain guardrails that protect people from the greed of tech oligarchs and support the survival of American democracy into the next century.

The Impact of Citizens United 

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) is one of the most significant factors in recent history to change the trajectory of US politics, and one of the most consequential to American  democracy. This ruling led to the creation of super PACs (Political Action Committees), committees that can raise unlimited funds to spend on political campaigns to yield great influence on democratic outcomes.

These are separate to ordinary PACs which have legal contribution limits on the funds they contribute to candidates. Essentially, Super PACs can obtain billions of dollars of undisclosed donations, without clear ties to candidates. This money has a fundamental influence on elections and warps the weight of a single citizen's ‘vote’. Essentially, some citizens have vastly greater political influence than others, all while under the same banner of democracy. 

The Growing Influence of Technology Companies in Politics

In the 2024 presidential election, Elon Musk, who is the world’s richest person, spent an estimated total of $277 million to elect Trump and back other Republican nominees, including $10 million to an independent group that assisted in the presidential bid of Gov. Ron DesSantis of Florida. As a result, Trump rewarded him and other top donors with top leadership positions within his administration, appointing Musk as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This type of cronyism and nepotism is not compatible with a healthy democracy. When wealth translates to direct political influence, democracy begins to resemble oligarchy.

Toward a Stronger Future

As the US political landscape readjusts to accelerating democratic backsliding, it is critical that safeguarding measures are implemented at national and global levels. The US is a stark example of  democratic vulnerability, highlighting the need for action to place restrictions on money in politics  and offering important lessons for nations around the world. 

To begin this process, three reforms should be considered:

1. Public financing of federal elections to reduce candidates’ coalescence and reliance on corporate interests.

2. Legislative or constitutional reform to overturn Citizens United to restore the ability of governments to place limits on corporate political spending.

3. Stronger regulation of digital platforms to help shape the informational ecosystem in which democracy and public discourse increasingly unfolds. 

As we grapple to solve complex global challenges, we must return to the ambitious, aspirational ideals that once defined Silicon Valley. For corporations to not succumb to the ‘evil’ they once feared, we must implement safeguards that audaciously maintain ethics for the common good over exuberant profits for the few. 

Fundamentally, we should ask ourselves: what are we willing to do to protect democracy? In answering that question, we may collectively usher in a new era of democracy: marked by the sanctity of the individual vote, and protected by the neutrality of the ballot box.

Isabelle Powell is a graduate of the University of Sydney, where she earned a degree in Politics and International Relations. Her global perspective has been shaped by living, studying and working across Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

She has worked in immigration centres in Sydney and Portland, USA, supporting refugees and survivors of human trafficking and gender-based violence. Isabelle is the director of Stories of America, a documentary currently in post-production that draws on field research interviews across Oregon to explore migration, national identity and political polarisation in the United States.

In January, she will join the Office of Senator Bernie Sanders in Washington D.C., as a Press and Digital Communications Intern. With a particular interest in democracy and political economy, Isabelle looks forward to contributing thoughtful, globally informed analysis of American domestic and foreign policy during the Fellowship.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Young Australians in International Affairs. AI tools were used by this author for grammar checks and idea refinement, but all content is original, and no plagiarism has been used in the preparation of this article.