Picture this. It’s 2020, the pandemic has arrived with a bang and Big Tech companies' share prices are soaring while the opposite is true for newspapers and TV. Australia’s then-Treasurer Josh Frydenberg settles in for his regular tennis and beer session with good mate Ryan Stokes – Josh was best man at his wedding – when he is told how big foreign social media companies were crowding out local companies such as his billionaire dad Kerry Stokes' Seven West Media.

Elon Musk – in his capacity as owner of Twitter – recently labelled NPR, a US-based radio broadcaster, “state-affiliated” due to the government subsidies it receives (about 1% of its revenue). NPR retaliated by quitting Twitter. Shortly afterwards, Musk had a public stoush with the UK’s BBC on account of the country’s TV tax, a compulsory annual fee paid by every TV owner to fund the public broadcaster, regardless of whether or not they watch it.