Elon Musk is leveraging his wealth and the power of his social platform X to help influence former President Trump’s election, sparking controversy along the way.
After years of drifting toward the political right, the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX is investing his fortune in a pro-Trump super PAC and has flooded X, which he purchased in 2022, with content criticizing Democrats and the vice president. Harris.
“The big difference [between Musk and other wealthy donors] it’s just that he’s kind of a Trump-esque figure himself,” Sarah Bryner, director of research and strategy at OpenSecrets, told The Hill.
“He is a very public person. While most of the people we see contributing to politicians are not household names, Elon Musk is,” Bryner continued. “So this combination of celebrity and wealth is a little unusual.”
Musk officially supported Trump after the former president was injured in an assassination attempt last month. Although the billionaire had been posting and interacting with right-wing content on X for a long time, he had previously refrained from supporting a particular candidate in the presidential race.
After the endorsement, Musk began frequently posting content embracing the former president. Musk welcomed Trump to the X for a roughly two-hour conversation on Monday, covering everything from the assassination attempt to the former president’s views on immigration and the economy.
The billionaire has also increasingly shared content disparaging Harris since President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed his vice president, who secured the Democratic nomination ahead of next week’s convention in Chicago.
Musk faced backlash late last month after sharing a mock campaign ad that used an artificial intelligence (AI) voice imitating Harris to spew insults about his campaign and Biden — a move that apparently violated his platform’s own policies.
X’s ownership has worried some Democrats, as several pro-Harris accounts on the platform have been suspended or labeled as spam in recent weeks.
The White Dudes for Harris X account was briefly suspended after holding a massive fundraising call for the vice president in late July. Several days later, it was labeled as spam and had its reach limited. Progressives for Harris also had its account suspended for a short period in early August.
Rep. Jerry Nadler (DN.Y.), who serves as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, called for an investigation into the potential throttling of Harris’ X primary campaign account last month after users reported problems following the account.
Nadler on Monday again called for an investigation into “political censorship” on the platform, this time pointing to inaccurate information provided by X’s AI chatbot Grok suggesting that Harris had missed voting deadlines in several states and was ineligible to appear. in the vote.
Musk’s “literal control” over X, including its algorithm, is “potentially concerning” in the context of the election, said Jonathan Nagler, co-director of the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University.
“He can change the algorithm on a whim and is completely free to adjust it to enhance or suppress any content he changes,” Nagler told The Hill. “He can decide to suppress any content that criticizes Trump; he may decide to suppress any content that praises Harris.”
Musk could not be reached for comment. X, SpaceX and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
The billionaire’s foray into the finance side of campaign politics appears to have begun before his current social media campaign for Trump.
He reportedly began meeting with consultants and vendors from his super PAC, America PAC, this spring to discuss efforts to get 800,000 people to vote for Trump in swing states, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Musk had not made any public contributions to federal candidates, party committees or super PACs as of June 30, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). contributions database.
However, América PAC has already raised almost US$8.8 million in the first month from the billionaire’s close allies, such as the co-founder of Palantir Technologies, Joe Lonsdale, and the CEO of Valor Equity Partners, Antonio Gracias.
Musk previously suggested he would donate $45 million a month to America PAC — a promise he soon backed off. Because the super PAC will not have to file another disclosure until mid-October, details of donors between June 30 and September 30 will not be public until then.
But America PAC has already faced scrutiny for its data collection practices, which are being investigated by the North Carolina State Board of Elections and, reportedly, the Michigan Secretary of State’s office.
America PAC’s basic website included a “register to vote” page, which has since been taken down.
On that page, users in competitive states including Michigan and North Carolina were asked to submit personal information such as address and phone number, but were not directed to a website where they could register to vote in their state, according to the initial report by CNBC.
“The State Election Board received a complaint about this organization. The complaint alleges that the organization hosts a website that misleads people into believing they are registering to vote, but no registration forms are sent to election officials. This complaint is being investigated,” board spokesman Patrick Gannon told The Hill.
He also noted that it is a crime in North Carolina “for someone to fail to submit a voter registration form if that person told the voter that they would submit the voter registration form.”
“If, during the course of an investigation, the State Board discovers that there is evidence that substantiates a violation and warrants a referral, it will be forwarded to the district attorney’s office for review by the District Attorney’s Office. The prosecutor’s office determines whether charges will be filed,” Gannon added.
The Michigan Secretary of State’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
However, a source familiar with America PAC’s efforts told The Hill that it has proactively contacted authorities in both states and believes it is in full compliance with the law.
Information provided by voters in swing states on the website was being used to fill out voter registration forms that would be sent to potential voters for signature, the source said.
Recently, during a major change in the super PAC’s field operation, Raconteur Media, which handled this process, was laid off. The company was brought back to finish its work, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
