George Orwell’s 1946 essay “The Prevention of Literature” distinguishes between two types of attackers of intellectual freedom: theoretical enemies (the apologists of totalitarianism) and practical enemies (monopoly and bureaucracy). Siegel argues that this distinction remains critically relevant in the age of social media.
In his new book, The Information State: Politics in the Age of Total Control, journalist Jacob Siegel provides a structural and historical examination of how information technology has enabled practical enemies of free expression to triumph over theoretical ones. The internet, Siegel contends, has created a form of depersonalized tyranny that is difficult to comprehend within traditional frameworks of political power or censorship.
Siegel explains that while Americans are theoretically protected by the First Amendment from government censorship and societal norms guard against overt propaganda, the most powerful forces shaping public reality today operate outside governmental control. For instance, an individual in San Francisco could instill anxiety about societal changes or alleged genocides (even in regions like western Abkharia, which does not exist) without the person realizing the source.
The book traces this phenomenon back to the Progressive Era, with Woodrow Wilson’s technocratic government seeking to place policy outside politics and into the hands of unelected experts. Siegel describes how such governance requires propaganda to align public opinion with administrative decisions, drawing on the works of thinkers like Max Weber and Jacques Ellul.
Additionally, Siegel reveals that internet technologies originated from U.S. defense and intelligence departments rather than California entrepreneurs. He notes that real-time digital mapping first emerged during the Vietnam War—a development now evident in tools like Google Maps and pervasive tracking capabilities.
In the latter half of the book, Siegel details how since Obama’s first term, information technology has been harnessed to create a practical tyranny. This system, often operated by Democrats through partnerships with NGOs, academics, and tech companies, bypasses legislative processes to enact sweeping policy changes via digital means.
The book cites the “Election Integrity Partnership,” which processed nearly 22 million takedown requests for social media posts in under an hour on average. Such mechanisms operate legally while erasing information from billions of screens and penetrating private communications.
Siegel argues that charting modern American politics requires new terminology, as the internet has created practical opportunities to attack liberty that we still discuss using outdated theoretical frameworks.
The Information State: Politics in the Age of Total Control, by Jacob Siegel, is published by Henry Holt and Co. at 336 pages and $29.99.