Reid Rasner, CEO of Omnivest Financial.
Let’s be honest—social media isn’t just entertainment anymore. It has become the backbone of modern influence and communication. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube aren’t merely venues for sharing videos; they are engines of commerce, culture and national influence. These platforms shape our society, are collectively projected to drive hundreds of billions in ad spend alone in 2025, and collect massive amounts of behavioral data on U.S. citizens. Yet, some are controlled by foreign entities. At some point, we must ask: should the platforms that influence our children, inform our electorate, and capture our economic value be owned by companies whose interests may not align with ours?
The Case For A Shift In Our Approach To Ownership
The U.S. has taken significant steps in recent years to bring back critical industries—from semiconductors to clean energy. For instance, the CHIPS and Science Act allocated nearly $53 billion to bolster domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research and development. Similarly, the Inflation Reduction Act has incentivized clean energy investments nationwide. However, we’ve largely overlooked one of the most powerful industries of the modern age: digital platforms. These platforms are not just media channels—they’re strategic infrastructure. Ensuring these platforms are U.S.-owned would give us more control over our influence, values and data.
User data isn’t just metadata.
Social media apps collect more than just likes and interests. They can also capture location data, facial recognition scans, audio recordings, biometric inputs and even keystroke behavior. Such insights are invaluable and, in the hands of adversarial actors or foreign-controlled firms, could become potent tools of leverage—not just over individuals but potentially also over entire economies.
We could keep more U.S. wealth onshore.
Foreign-owned platforms often benefit from American content creators, brands and consumers—yet the lion’s share of that revenue is likely to be repatriated abroad in many cases. This represents a digital trade imbalance. The question isn’t whether creators deserve a platform—they do. The question is: should that platform be enriching foreign shareholders or helping build American prosperity and digital leadership?
We’ve set boundaries before; we can do it again.
We restrict foreign ownership of or affiliation with telecom infrastructure, airlines, and other organizations and systems—likely because they’re critical to our national interests. So why would social media platforms, some with influence over hundreds of millions of Americans, be treated differently?
Public-Private Partnerships As A Way Forward
When people hear “government involvement,” they often picture red tape. But that’s not what I’m proposing. A public-private partnership (PPP)—already used in industries like defense, energy and transportation—offers a path forward. It’s a way to preserve innovation while protecting national interests. Consider NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which collaborates with SpaceX and Boeing. This partnership has drastically cut the cost of sending astronauts to space and encourages innovation in the aerospace sector. Similarly, Microsoft collaborated with the Department of Defense as part of the department’s Zero Trust Strategy.
PPPs would bring both opportunities and challenges for businesses.
Here’s where business leaders and entrepreneurs come in. In a PPP-driven framework for digital platforms, we could work toward:
• Joint ownership models where U.S.-based firms invest alongside government partners.
• Shared governance structures, allowing diverse stakeholders—creators, businesses and developers—to shape content standards and data policy.
• Revenue reinvestment into American innovation, job creation and tech infrastructure.
However, leaders must also be prepared for challenges such as:
• Increased compliance standards and visibility into algorithms and data use.
• Operational transparency, especially for platforms with outsized influence.
• Navigating new competitive dynamics, as domestic platforms may gain advantage or face scrutiny, depending on policy shifts.
Smart leaders won’t fear these obstacles—they’ll position ahead of them.
Final Thoughts: Shifting From Consumer To Stakeholder
We have an opportunity to design a new model where American businesses, investors, creators and users all have a stake in the platforms of tomorrow. This isn’t about isolationism. It’s about strategic leadership. To my fellow business leaders, now is the time to act—not just as spectators, but as architects. Let’s build a digital future where ownership reflects alignment, where innovation and security go hand in hand, and where American-made platforms drive the next era of growth and global influence.
Because if we don’t claim control of our digital infrastructure, someone else could.
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