Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk addressed a rally for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024. – Reuters
Billionaire Elon Musk's false or misleading claims about the US election have garnered 2 billion views on social media platform X this year, according to a report by the non-profit group Centre for Countering Digital Hate. The platform is also significantly contributing to the dissemination of false information about critical battleground states that could influence the presidential race, according to election and misinformation experts.
A spokesperson for X stated that the company's Community Notes feature, which allows users to add context to posts, is more effective at identifying misleading content than traditional warning flags. Since acquiring the company formerly known as Twitter, Musk has reduced content moderation and laid off thousands of employees. He has also publicly supported former President Donald Trump, who is in a tight race against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Musk's extensive reach with nearly 203 million followers facilitates 'network effects,' where content on X can easily spread to other social media and messaging platforms like Reddit and Telegram, explained Kathleen Carley, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and an expert on disinformation. 'X acts as a bridge from one platform to another,' she noted.
At least 87 of Musk's posts this year have promoted claims about the US election that fact-checkers have deemed false or misleading, accumulating 2 billion views, according to the Centre for Countering Digital Hate's report. In Pennsylvania, one of the seven key swing states, some X users have misinterpreted instances of local election administrators flagging incomplete voter registration forms as examples of election interference, according to Philip Hensley-Robin, Pennsylvania executive director at Common Cause, during a press briefing.
Common Cause, a nonpartisan organization advocating for accountable government and voting rights, clarified that some X accounts falsely implied voter fraud. 'We know very clearly that election officials and administrators in all our counties were following the rules, ensuring only eligible voters are voting,' Hensley-Robin said.
Cyabra, a firm using AI to detect online disinformation, reported that an X account with 117,000 followers played a crucial role in spreading a fake video claiming to show Pennsylvania mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed. X's spokesperson confirmed that the platform took action against many accounts that shared the video.
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