Jake Tapper Worries About Disinformation In Future Elections. CNN Just Lost A $5M Defamation Case
CNN anchor Jake Tapper appeared concerned about the spread of “disinformation” online and how that could impact the next election just days after his network was found guilty of defamation.
During CNN’s coverage of President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, Tapper focused on a group of tech executives that have grown closer to Trump since the president’s November victory. One of those executives, X CEO Elon Musk, was instrumental in Trump’s victory.
Other executives who have made peace with the president include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Tapper’s emphasis on the influence those men will have on information and elections comes as his own network just suffered a blow to its own credibility after losing a $5 million defamation case.
Tapper showed a photo of those executives minus Musk in St. John’s Church for a Monday morning service and remarked on the influence the group has over the spread of information.
“Those five people that I just mentioned – the four in the photograph and also Elon Musk – control so much of the information that we receive. So much is in their hands when it comes to ascertaining, monitoring, or refusing to monitor what is real, what is not real,” Tapper said.
“We’re about to enter an era of deepfakes and all sorts of misinformation, and the degree to which those five gentlemen play a role or do not play a role will be pivotal in terms of where the American people are four years from now in terms of understanding what is true and what is false,” he continued.
Tapper’s colleague, anchor Anderson Cooper, emphasized that the tech titans are “the gatekeepers, in many ways, to information for the entire planet.”
WATCH: CNN’s Jake Tapper melts down at the fact X’s Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Google’s Sundar Pichai attended the inauguration church service with @realDonaldTrump and @JDVance:
“We’re about to enter an era of deepfakes and… pic.twitter.com/qIQcEnjokW
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 20, 2025
On Friday, CNN settled a defamation case brought by veteran Zachary Young over a segment the network aired in 2021 on Young’s efforts to extract people from Afghanistan during the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal. The segment portrayed Young as a pariah, according to the lawsuit.
A Florida jury agreed with Young and found that CNN had defamed the veteran and that the veteran should be awarded $5 million. The jurors were debating extra punitive damages to be paid out by the network when CNN and Young settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount of money.
CNN said in a statement after the settlement that it would “take what useful lessons we can from this case.”
Young’s attorney, Devin Freedman, said: “We are very happy with the result. We cleared our client’s name, held CNN to account, and then settled to avoid protracted appeals.”
Tapper has a record of controversial statements against Trump that at best blur and at worst cross the line between objective journalism and partisan commentary. In 2020, the CNN anchor repeatedly referred to Trump’s children derisively as his “spawn.” Also that year, Tapper called Trump’s presidential campaign “the single most negative, sleazy campaign in American history for a major party candidate.”