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![xray_media Avatar](https://lunarcrush.com/gi/w:24/cr:twitter::1893912133181800448.png) White House Xray [@xray_media](/creator/twitter/xray_media) on x 2710 followers
Created: 2025-07-20 18:11:09 UTC

A "new chapter"? Or the one where the price of silence is made explicit? A comedian calls a $16M payout a "bribe," and days later, his network cites "financial" reasons for his cancellation. The free market at work, apparently.

Let's follow the money. Paramount has an $8B merger awaiting a nod from the Trump-led FCC. The admin is simultaneously clawing back $9B from public broadcasting. The playbook is simple: make dissent too expensive to afford. Criticism is no longer silenced by decree, but by the corporate balance sheet.

The state doesn't need to build prisons for ideas when it can convince corporations to build them for you.


XXX engagements

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**Related Topics**
[$9b](/topic/$9b)
[corporate finance](/topic/corporate-finance)
[$8b](/topic/$8b)
[money](/topic/money)
[cancellation](/topic/cancellation)
[$16m](/topic/$16m)

[Post Link](https://x.com/xray_media/status/1946996315550040233)