An ex-Atlantic Council member is basically their chief moderation officer.

The Atlantic Council is basically a representative for US foreign policy - it's staffed overwhelmingly by (ex) US intelligence and DoD staff. The same is true for Facebook and I assume Google as well.

I cannot understate how important technological independence is in this day and age. The fact that Europe doesn't have robust social media or search is a testament to Europe's decline and Europe's fall into the American sphere of influence.

China has Baidu and WeChat and Russia has Yandex and VK. It's not a surprise that they're also the only big countries which can maintain a coherent anti-Western policy. It isn't necessarily about controlling your population, but about preventing other state actors from controlling your population.