X's owner and most followed user, Elon Musk, has used the social media platform as a microphone to amplify his own political views and, more recently, those of right-wing figures he aligns with. While there are few modern parallels to his actions, there are also few modern parallels to Elon Musk himself.
Of course, this is not surprising.
When Musk was looking to buy Twitter in 2022, he said he was doing so because Twitter had not lived up to its potential as a “platform for free speech.” His motivation was protecting free speech, not money, because, in his words, “having a public platform that is maximally trusted and widely accepted is crucial to the future of civilization.”
Musk often ponders the future of civilization. For one, he seems obsessed with the onset of a “demographic collapse” that threatens to wipe out humanity. And last year, he joined other prominent scientists and tech leaders in warning the world that artificial intelligence will do the same. Musk sees threats to free speech as another looming existential threat to the world, and he's going to do everything in his power to save it.
“Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is a digital town square where issues of critical importance to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in an April 2022 post. Heart, star and rocket emoji Emphasize the statement.
Two years later, the platform, now called X, has become a haven for exactly the kind of free speech Musk champions: In the US, he's spread memes (and sometimes misinformation) about illegal immigration, allegations of election fraud and transgender politics, and this summer he formally endorsed former President Donald Trump's presidential bid.
In May 2023, he co-hosted Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' official presidential bid announcement. It was a disastrous announcement marred by technical issues, but it highlighted Musk's desire to make X a “digital town square.” After the event was marred by technical issues, Musk publicly invited any other presidential candidates who wanted to participate to attend. Trump accepted his offer and agreed to an interview with the billionaire Tesla CEO on Monday night. The conversation began about 42 minutes late, when he was unable to participate due to technical issues at the start.
“I've never been very political,” Musk said during his conversation with Trump.
Abroad, where most of X's users live, he has clashed with officials in Australia, Brazil, the European Union and the UK over the balance between free speech and the spread of harmful misinformation. Blamed the political party He has been accused of “openly promoting white genocide” in his native South Africa.
“Elon Musk is a media guru and owns one of the biggest microphones in the world. Musk understands the power of social media to shape the political narrative,” said Jasmine Engberg, an analyst at eMarketer. “The concern is that as Musk pushes his own political agenda, X may suppress voices that disagree with his own, either intentionally or through the increasingly partisan nature of the platform. This could alienate users who feel alienated on the platform and disillusion some who previously believed in his free speech mantra.”
Musk's political shift rolling out on X comes as other social media platforms, including Meta's Facebook and Instagram, distance themselves from politics. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has never endorsed a presidential candidate, and in February the world's largest social media company said it would no longer recommend political content to people who don't follow such accounts.
Zuckerberg has contrasted with Musk in other ways recently. The Facebook founder testified before Congress as recently as January about the harm the platform has caused children, but now he seems to have embraced a more stylish look, with a smiley confidence, coupled with gold chains, long curls, and a slightly self-deprecating humor that seems to embrace his eccentricities. On the Fourth of July, for example, he posted a video of himself riding an electric surfboard in a tuxedo, holding a can of beer in one hand and an American flag in the other. The online reaction was far more positive than his 2021 surfing photo, in which he appears to be slathered in sunscreen and wearing a white mask.
Musk, meanwhile, has veered from the realm of cool geek to what technology journalism heavyweight Kara Swisher recently called “the Howard Hughes part” of inevitable decadence. He's sparring with people who disagree with him, whether they're foreign governments or people infected with what he calls the “woke mind virus.” Last week, the British government called on tech billionaire Elon Musk to act more responsibly after he used X to make a series of posts that threatened to incite violent unrest across the country.
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander made the comments after Musk said a “civil war is inevitable” in the UK. Musk then doubled down, highlighting his frustration that the UK criminal justice system treats Muslims more leniently than far-right activists and likening Britain's crackdown on social media users to the Soviet Union.
Officials for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Of course, some of Musk's current free speech battles are similar to those the previous Twitter administration has fought under repressive regimes that have limited or blocked access to the platform to stifle dissent. In Venezuela, for example, President Nicolas Maduro last week ordered a 10-day block on access to X in the country, the latest in a series of efforts by his administration to stifle information sharing among those who question his claim to victory in the July 28 presidential election. Maduro has accused X of being used by the opposition to sow political unrest and given the company 10 days to “submit documentation,” without providing further details.
Musk's actions are uncharacteristic of other major tech leaders and may irritate some of X's user base, but at the same time, they may bring attention to his platform. Is this all part of a broader plan? After all, leftists continue to use Musk's platform despite openly criticizing his actions.
“X has been remarkably resilient in the face of recent controversy,” Enberg said, “and that's due in large part to consumers' fascination with conspiracy theories and Elon Musk himself.”
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