Three massive, concurrent tectonic shifts are reordering in dramatic ways how America and the world will get, and consume, information in the years ahead, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column:

1. Trust in traditional media is vanishing.
2. Where people are getting information has shattered into dozens of ecosystems.
3. The world's most powerful social platforms — X, Facebook, Instagram — no longer police speech or information.

Why it matters: In this new information world order, the people with the largest platforms and followings hold more power than ever in shaping reality. That's a seismic shift in how realities are formed in real time.

Meta's decision to dial back fact-checking, announced yesterday, captures the sea change.

• A few short years ago, Twitter (before it was X), Facebook and Instagram had robust teams monitoring news and information — and pulling down posts that were hateful or deemed fake or misinformation. On top of that, news organizations had more credibility than today — allowing them both to expose misinformation, and also help correct it for the public.
• Now, the platforms' fact-checking teams have been dismantled, and traditional media is more delegitimized with a lot of consumers.

While that was happening, the common window through which most Americans learned about the country and the world — TV, newspapers, radio — was shattered into dozens of shards of glass, based on consumer's personal preferences.

• So as President-elect Trump — a huge beneficiary of this new reality — takes office, the way we get informed has been upended in ways most have not fully reckoned with.

📈 Rising powers:

• Elon Musk (211 million followers on X), Mark Zuckerberg (118 million followers on Facebook, 15 million on Instagram) and others running the biggest, most influential platforms, and attracting the biggest personal followings. Trump has 97 million followers on X, if he ever returns in earnest. Plus his posts from his own platform, Truth Social (8.5 million followers), are instantly mirrored and amplified on X by official Trump accounts, fan accounts and news organizations.
• New media entities, especially on the right, benefit from the new dynamics.
• Any media company or person with a big following that trusts them to help make sense of the world around them (the mission of Axios). Tech execs tell us this shifting reality presents new opportunities for trusted names in media to help readers navigate the information landscape.
• Most worrisome, malicious actors who want to spread misinformation at scale with scant policing. Russia, China and others are quite adept at this and now face less resistance.

🧠 Reality check: Trump, Musk, and Zuckerberg are beneficiaries — but are proactive architects, not passive winners.

👀 Eye on the prize: Musk is trying to use this power to shape public opinion in the U.S., Britain and Germany in ways that help his political and business interests. Musk and Trump are of one mind on most topics — giving each more power.

• Zuckerberg is basically using the Musk playbook: Align with and back Trump, make plain his company is moving in a more MAGA-friendly direction, and stop policing his platforms in ways that bother either Trump or his supporters.
• Friends of Zuckerberg tell us this is what he long wanted to do, but felt he couldn't for internal and external reasons. Now it's easy.

Beyond replacing fact-checking, Meta also said it will bring back more political content to its platforms and end restrictions on certain topics "out of touch with mainstream discourse," Zuckerberg said in his announcement video, "like immigration and gender."

• It also will adjust filters scanning for policy violations to tackle only illegal and "high severity" violations. Those include topics like terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud and scams.
• The company's U.S. content review team will move to Texas from California. Zuckerberg said that will help Meta "build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams." X last year announced the creation of a safety unit in Texas.

🔮 What to watch: One company struggling in this new environment is The Washington Post, which is bleeding talent and facing an internal revolt.

• We hear Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who owns The Post, wants to make it a publication for "all of America," with a heavy emphasis on social media, not traditional media popularity.
• Relatedly, The Post said yesterday that it'll abandon longtime efforts to promote its scoops to TV and other legacy outlets, to expand "beyond traditional media to reach new audiences."

Why it matters to you: The burden now falls on you to find sources of information you trust for reliable truth. That means better scrutinizing not only the publications you choose, but the individuals you follow on social media. That's a lot to ask — but it's the new necessity.

• Share this column ... Axios' Sara Fischer and Scott Rosenberg contributed reporting.

Tech's rightward lurch toward anything-goes rules for the online world comes at a formative moment for AI, Axios managing editor for tech Scott Rosenberg writes from the Bay Area.

• Why it matters: The norms for AI will emerge in a political and cultural environment that's hostile to regulation and disdainful of limits.

For AI firms, catching "bad stuff" isn't about monitoring user posts, but about anticipating problematic user questions or prompts (like "Tell me how to make a bomb") and finding ways to avoid troubling AI answers (like ethnic slurs or libelous lies about public figures).

🔭 The long view: The early years of each Silicon Valley platform shift — the inception of the personal computer era, the internet age, or the smartphone boom — have always featured a brief explosion of creativity before the ground cools.

• Startups and incumbent firms vie to figure out what users want and will pay for, what works and what doesn't, what's exciting to do with the new thing and what's a flop.

🦾 AI is at that moment right now.

• The next three to four years will reveal winners and losers in the business. But they will also set social customs and workplace expectations around AI.

The bottom line: Social media's broad retreat from content moderation suggests where the tech industry's collective head is at. Those hoping to build AI with strong ethical safeguards, bias protections or safety limits should expect an uphill battle.

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Marc Caputo — who just joined Axios to cover the White House, and is one of the best-wired MAGA-world reporters — will be Jim and Mike's special guest at an Axios AM Executive Briefing webinar next Monday.

• Caputo will take us inside President-elect Trump's shock-and-awe opening days. Subscribe here.

L.A. County saw multiple wildfires erupt as dry, "extremely critical" fire conditions and Santa Ana winds threatened Southern California.

• The National Weather Service warns the worst is yet to come, Axios' Rebecca Falconer and Andrew Freedman report.

30,000+ people evacuated and 3,000 acres burned near the upscale Pacific Palisades neighborhood of West L.A., between the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu. The area is home to many film and music stars. (Reuters)

A traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through, and a bulldozer was brought in to push the abandoned cars aside.

• Video along the famed Pacific Coast Highway showed widespread destruction of homes and businesses.

L.A. Lakers coach JJ Redick said at a game in Dallas that members of his family were among those in L.A. forced to evacuate and were "freaking out."

• The fire swept across a hillside where Redick lives alongside other celebrities.

Get the latest.

State Department officials told the Trump administration transition team there could be a humanitarian "catastrophe" in Gaza when a new Israeli law barring contact with the UN refugee agency for Palestinians takes effect at the end of the month, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• "We wanted them to know what is going to happen 10 days into their presidency," a U.S. official told Axios. "We thought it was the responsible thing to do. It's a catastrophe waiting to happen."

Why it matters: The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is the primary aid agency operating in Gaza. U.S. officials say there's no serious backup plan for providing humanitarian supplies and services to Palestinians.

After more than a year of war, the UN and other aid organizations warn Gaza is close to uninhabitable.

• The Israeli law will take effect a few days after President-elect Trump's inauguration, when the new administration will be faced with mounting world crises.

🇺🇳 UN officials say they're concerned that after the laws come into effect, UNRWA staff won't be able to move between Gaza and Israel.

• That will put the ability of UNRWA to continue working in Gaza in jeopardy, UN officials said.

Keep reading.

Virginia Democrats preserved their Statehouse majority last night, in the first test of voters' energy since November's left many Dems across the country reckoning with losses, AP reports.

• In Richmond, Dems now have a narrow 21-19 edge in the state Senate and a 51-49 lead in the House of Delegates — keeping their majorities in both chambers during Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's last year in office.

Why it matters: The results could limit Youngkin's conservative agenda for the state, requiring the governor to gain bipartisan support for his legislative vision.

🖼️ The big picture: Republicans this year are set control legislatures in 24 states to Democrats' 15. The chambers are split in 10 others. Nebraska has a unicameral legislature with a Republican supermajority. (Cook Political Report)

• See a map.

A military guard of honor stands next to the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter during a lying-in-state service in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda yesterday.

• His State Funeral will be tomorrow at Washington National Cathedral. (Details)

How you can go: The public is invited to pay respects from 7 a.m. today until 7 a.m. tomorrow as the 39th president lies in state.

• "Lines may be long, and all individuals are subject to a security search," organizers say.

Updated schedule ... More photos.

A new panda pop-up bar. Luxury "zoocation" packages. D.C.'s panda-conomy is taking off as the Smithsonian National Zoo's bears debut later this month, Axios D.C.'s Anna Spiegel reports.

• Why it matters: Giant pandas mean big business for the city.

After weeks of quarantine, 3-year-olds Bao Li and Qing Bao will preview for a limited number of zoo members starting Friday.

• The public unveiling is Jan. 24.

State of play: Locals and tourists can climb into the Bamboo Bar starting Friday. The panda-themed pop-up takes over Duke's Counter, across from the zoo. There'll be a green habitat-chic decor plus panda-rita cocktails. Expect bamboo everything, from edible garnishes to sustainable straws.

• Baked by Yael, a kosher and nut-free bakery by the zoo, has tripled its revenue on big bear occasions. To fuel the craze, it bakes panda pops and cookies and sells merch.

🛏️ Several D.C. hotels are hawking panda-themed packages.

• The Watergate will offer panda-print pajamas, panda-themed treats and round-trip transportation to the zoo. Starting price: nearly $600 for a king room on the pandas' debut day.

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