Total billionaire wealth in the EU reached €2.4 trillion by late November, exceeding Italy's entire GDP of €2.2 trillion and approaching France's €2.9 trillion economy, a new Oxfam report found.

The concentration of wealth is increasingly translating into control over information, with billionaires now owning more than half of the world’s largest media companies and all major social media platforms.

Recent high-profile acquisitions include Jeff Bezos purchasing the Washington Post, Elon Musk buying Twitter (now X), and Patrick Soon-Shiong acquiring the Los Angeles Times. A billionaire consortium also bought significant stakes in The Economist.

In France, far-right billionaire Vincent Bolloré has transformed CNews into what critics call the French equivalent of Fox News. In the United Kingdom, three-quarters of newspaper circulation is controlled by just four wealthy families.

This consolidation of media ownership is affecting whose voices are heard. According to the report, only 27 percent of top editors globally are women, and just 23 percent belong to racial minorities. Meanwhile, marginalised groups, including immigrants and people of color, are increasingly stigmatised and scapegoated, while critical voices face silencing.