Televisa and the #CensorshipLaw: the old control machinery at the service of the government

The strategy seems clear: the so-called #LeyCensura didn't come alone. It was accompanied by a spot broadcast by Televisa that justifies the supposed need to "regulate" the media to combat disinformation. A message that, on the surface, aimed to protect the common citizen, but in reality, lays the groundwork to legitimize government intervention in the editorial line of independent and critical media.

Coincidence? It's hard to believe. Especially when we remember that just a few days ago Televisa broadcast a spot of Donald Trump, in an act that then seemed like a common advertising exercise: giving a platform to whoever pays for it, an exercise of individuals with a debatable ethic. Today it makes sense: it wasn't clumsiness, it was—possibly—a simulation. An exercise of collaboration between Televisa and political power to prepare the ground, gauge reactions, and above all, build the perfect pretext to justify new mechanisms of media control and revenge against digital platforms and opponents like Ricardo Salinas Pliego or Carlos Loret. The alleged evidence of digital attacks on Carlos Slim, with government knowledge, is striking.

What we are witnessing is not a simple adjustment in the rules of the game. It is the resurgence of old practices, now disguised as modernity and progressive discourse of "audience protection" and "national sovereignty." Televisa, as in the worst times of hegemonic presidentialism, doesn't act as a free media outlet, but as an instrument of social control, servile to the interests of those in power, among them, Arturo Zaldívar.

The recent revelations of #TelevisaLeaks finally fit the pieces of the puzzle. According to Carmen Aristegui, her media outlet holds internal documentation and testimonies showing how the television network has orchestrated smear campaigns against businessmen and public figures who are inconvenient for the current regime. All, apparently, in direct response to governmental interests.

The pattern is undeniable: narratives are built, "scandals" are manufactured, public conversation is poisoned, and censorship is normalized under the guise of the "fight against disinformation." Meanwhile, the Televisa-Government relationship not only survives but seems stronger than ever, recycling itself into new forms of simulation and staging to justify measures like the #LeyCensura.

Thus, while critical media are cornered, what was once the great national television network returns to fulfill the same role as always: operating as a propaganda arm, manipulating perceptions, and punishing dissidents. The difference is that now, in addition, it does so with the endorsement of legislation designed to its measure.

Mexico faces a new threat to freedom of expression, disguised as modern regulation, with old operators recycled for times of democratic simulation.