When Congress passed a law in 2024 to ban TikTok unless it came under U.S. ownership, lawmakers argued that the app's Chinese parent company posed national security concerns. The Trump administration, which had granted the viral video app a reprieve shortly after taking office in January 2025, extended that pause again on April 4 after the Chinese government reportedly scuttled a planned deal. Given that worry, it might surprise Americans to learn that nearly every social media giant is controlled by just one or two men. For example, Mark Zuckerberg controls Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, while Larry Page and Sergey Brin control Alphabet, which owns YouTube and Google. What does 'control' mean' These companies are publicly traded ' anybody can buy or sell their shares ' but a legal mechanism known as dual-class stock gives founders extra votes in shareholder decisions. The dual-class structure crowns these men 'corporate royalty,' as one former U.S. Securities...
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