As X’s owner and most followed user, Elon Musk has increasingly used the social media platform as a microphone to amplify his political views and, lately, those of right-wing figures he’s aligned with. There are few modern parallels to his antics, but then again there are few modern parallels to Elon Musk himself.
Of course, none of this should come as a surprise.
Back in 2022 when he was trying to buy Twitter, Musk said he was doing so because it wasn’t living up to its potential as a “platform for free speech.” Protecting free speech - not money - was his motivation because, as he put it, “having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.”
Musk often ruminates on the future of civilization. For one, he appears fixated on a coming “ population collapse,” threatening to wipe out humanity. And he joined prominent scientists and tech leaders last year in warning the world about artificial intelligence doing the same. Musk has framed threats to free speech as yet another existential crisis looming over the world. And he is going to try his best to save it.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said in an April 2022 post, adding hearts, stars and rocket emojis to highlight the statement.
Two years on, the platform - now called X - has indeed become a haven for the type of free speech Musk has come to champion. In the U.S., he’s spread memes - and sometimes misinformation - about illegal immigration, alleged election fraud and transgender policies, and he formally endorsed former President Donald Trump’s presidential bid this summer.
In May 2023, he co-hosted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ official presidential bid announcement. That turned out to be a disastrous rollout marred by technical glitches but it underscored Musk’s desire to turn X into a “digital town square.” After the event was marred by technical difficulties, Musk extended an open invitation to any other presidential candidate who wants to do one. Trump took him up on it, agreeing to an interview with the billionaire Tesla CEO on Monday evening. The conversation started with technical glitches with people unable to join in and began some 42 minutes late.
“I’ve not been very political before,” Musk said during his conversation with Trump.
Overseas - where most X users live - he’s feuded with top officials in Australia, Brazil, the European Union and the U.K. over the balance between free speech and the spread of harmful misinformation. And he accused a political party in his native South Africa of “openly pushing for genocide of white people.”
“Elon Musk is a master of the media and controls one of the world’s largest microphones. Musk understands the power of social media in shaping a political narrative,” said Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg. “The concern is that as he pushes his own political agenda, X could suppress viewpoints that oppose Musk’s own, either intentionally or by nature of the platform becoming more partisan. That could turn off users who feel marginalized on the platform, and disillusion some who may have earlier bought into his free speech mantra.”
Musk’s political shift playing out on X comes as other social media platforms, notably Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, are shying away from politics. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has never endorsed a presidential candidate - and in February, the world’s largest social media company announced it would avoid recommending political content to people who don’t already follow such accounts.
Lately, Zuckerberg appears to contrast Musk in other ways too. While as recently as January, the Facebook founder was testifying before Congress about the harm his platform has caused children, he seemed to have embraced a more stylish look that includes gold chains, longer curls and a beaming confidence coupled with slightly self-deprecating humor that seems to embrace his eccentricities. On July 4th, for instance, he posted a video of himself riding an electric surfboard, wearing a tuxedo and holding a can of beer in one hand and an American flag in the other. The online response was far more positive than to a 2021 surfing photo, where he’s seen slathered in so much sunscreen it looks like he is wearing a white mask.
Musk, meanwhile, is veering from cool nerd territory into what Kara Swisher, the elder stateswoman of tech journalism, recently called “the Howard Hughes portion” of an inevitable decline. He’s sparring with those who disagree with him - be they foreign governments or people infected by what he calls the “woke mind virus.” Last week, the British government called on Elon Musk to act more responsibly after the tech billionaire used X to unleash a barrage of posts that risk inflaming violent unrest gripping the country.
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander made the comments after Musk posted a comment saying that “Civil war is inevitable” in the U.K. Musk later doubled down, highlighting complaints that the British criminal justice system treats Muslims more leniently than far-right activists and comparing Britain’s crackdown on social media users to the Soviet Union.
Officials at X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Of course, some of Musk’s current battles over free speech are similar to those that the previous Twitter administration was fighting in repressive regimes that have, at times, restricted or blocked access to the platform to suppress dissent. In Venezuela, for instance, President Nicolás Maduro ordered a 10-day block on access to X in the country last week - the latest in a series of efforts by his government to try to suppress information sharing among people voicing doubts about his claim to victory in the July 28 presidential election. Maduro accused X of being used by his opponents to create political unrest, and gave the company 10 days to “present their documents,” but he gave no additional details.
Musk’s antics are unlike any other Big Tech leader, and while it may be off-putting to a segment of his X user base, it could also attract eyeballs to his platform. Could this all be part of a broader plan? After all, despite publicly criticizing Musk’s antics, those on the left continue to use his platform.
“X has remained surprisingly resilient throughout the recent controversy,” Enberg said. “That’s in no small part due to consumer fascination with conspiracy theories and Elon Musk himself.”
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AP Technology Writer Matt O’Brien contributed to this story.
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