The most dangerous people on the Internet in 2025

In 2025, people Those who built their careers through being a form of online communication are now some of the most powerful people in the world.

Tops the list – as are we He predicted he would do that last year– He is Donald Trump. The 79-year-old President of the United States literally rules by decrees sent to him Social network, social truth. Meanwhile, the US government is run by a ragtag crew of former conspiracy theorists, TV hosts, vaccine skeptics, and entertainment moguls. A decade ago, the prevailing advice was to never read YouTube comments. Today, the human embodiment of YouTube comments determines federal policy.

Besides members of the Trump administration (fair warning, there are quite a few people on this year’s list), you’ll find some of the usual suspects: state-backed hackers in China, members making havoc in the internet underworld, online scammers, and, of course, Elon Musk.

Every year, we round up the people who have a hand in making the Internet age seem like life itself is a relentless, inescapable comments section — and who are doing real damage in the world from their digital perch. Here’s our list for 2025.

Donald Trump

In 2025, Donald Trump has arrived in what may be his final form. Freed from the shackles of convention, decency, and checks and balances, the second Trump administration is characterized by the relentless pursuit of everything Stephen Miller and Russell Vought believe will make America great again. But Trump remains the commander in chief, spewing an endless stream of attacks, insults, conspiracy theories, and artificial intelligence on Truth Social.

During one particularly rainy night in early December, Pr to publish 169 times Between 7 p.m. and approximately midnight at the White House. It included calls for Congress to “end the filibuster” and official speeches regarding the presidential elections in Honduras. Weeks ago, he had done just that to publish A video reminding US troops that they have a duty to disobey illegal orders is “seditious conduct, punishable by death.” When the president posts, it’s news, which means almost everyone in the United States must absorb the chaos Trump is creating online.

Every day under Trump goes like this, just as it has for the better part of a decade. Cracks in Trump’s social media armor are starting to appear; Republicans in particular pushed back on his harsh comments after director Rob Reiner and his wife were found stabbed to death in mid-December. Yet Trump dominates almost every news cycle, wielding ever-increasing power to shape and destroy the lives of people in the United States and abroad with a single official message of “social truth.” If there’s one principle Trump reliably adheres to, it’s this: never. Stop. send.

Frontier czars

The Trump administration’s brutal and indiscriminate assault on people not born in the United States (and even some who were) has defined life in America in 2025: masked agents in riot gear lurking in the streets, racially profiling pedestrians, and disappearing friends and loved ones into the bureaucratic curtain of ICE and CBP detention. At the heart of this profound reshaping of America are White House Counsel Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

As deputy chief of staff for policy, Miller is widely regarded “structural engineer” Regarding Trump’s anti-immigrant measures. He’s the guy who said on TV that the feds were going to do it 3,000 people are arrested daily– An alleged “share” whose existence the administration denied, at least when He was forced to confront him in court. Without Miller, your social media networks — both online and off — would likely be far less saturated with news and videos of shattered lives.

At the same time, Noem became the face of the administration’s anti-immigrant policies. The head of the Department of Homeland Security oversees both ICE and CBP and is therefore directly responsible for how the crackdown on immigrants is managed. This includes Greater social media monitoringA Face recognition application Which runs people through government databases, casting Public accountability From federal agents as illegal “libel.” Under Noem, CBP proposed subjecting travelers to the United States to A Review five years of social media posts.

Doug

It feels like the prequel to a bad cyberpunk novel: Team of Pretty much Young, inexperienced Activists connected For some of the strongest men alive Transgression Regular background checks to access some of the most sensitive US government systems. One of their obvious main goals? Link data sets together to create a file Main database Which can be used as a surveillance tool of unprecedented scale.

This is of course what actually happened this year, as Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced Take control Over a lot of federal bureaucracy.