Jannis Brühl

One year after Trump’s return to the White House, an urgent question arises: what role do Silicon Valley’s tech billionaires play in the future of our democracies? In Disruption. How tech oligarchs are playing with our future, Jannis Brühl analyzes the alliance between parts of the US tech elite and Donald Trump. He also warns against a restructuring of democratic structures.
Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Alex Karp and Marc Andreessen represent a new avant-garde: worth billions, technological leaders and characterized by an ideology that places the market and power above democratic negotiation. Economic influence is turning into political ambition – a “revolution from above” that is challenging Europe. How can the EU respond to this shift in power? What forms of digital sovereignty and democratic resilience are needed?

Jannis Brühl is one of Germany’s leading digital journalists and heads the SZ’s digital and finance team.

In the series Spotlight USA – Democracy under pressure
250 years of American democracy – and at the same time a political change of course with global consequences: Schlaglicht USA analyzes how the political balance of power is shifting in President Trump’s second term and what security and economic policy consequences “America First” has for transatlantic relations In this series, influential voices from politics, science, law and culture discuss what freedom, justice and democracy mean in the 21st century.