X Owner Musk Uploads Political Posts
Supports 'Trump's Second Term' Promotion and Agrees with Criticism of Democratic Party
"Becoming a Stronghold for Trump Propaganda" Concerns Raised
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X (formerly Twitter), has posted over 400 political-related posts in four days. This averages about 100 posts per day. Most of these posts are related to Donald Trump, the President-elect of the United States, raising concerns that X could become a 'propaganda media.' On the 9th (local time), The New York Times (NYT) reported, "Musk posted more than 400 political-related posts on his X account from the 5th, when the U.S. presidential election was held, until today."
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, took the stage and made a gesture at a rally supporting former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, held at Madison Square Garden in New York on the 27th of last month (local time). Photo by Reuters, Yonhap News.
Throughout the election period, CEO Musk publicly supported President-elect Trump and is expected to take the position of chairman of the Government Efficiency Committee in the second Trump administration. Through X, he claimed that Trump would establish the Government Efficiency Committee and that a 'major cleanup' was necessary in government agencies overseeing health and pandemic responses. As the owner of X, he has begun actively conveying the message of the next administration.
He also continues to quote posts that align with his views and adds brief comments. When a user posted an explanation about the reason for Trump's victory, Musk responded with "accurate assessment," and when another post stated, "It has become known that mainstream media is a propaganda tool for the Democratic Party, and Americans are waking up," he emphasized, "Exactly this."
In October 2022, shortly after acquiring Twitter, CEO Musk abolished the existing content moderation guidelines that filtered out fake news and other content. Subsequently, thousands of accounts that had been suspended for inciting violence or sharing hate speech were restored. Among the restored accounts were those of President-elect Trump and far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
There is no doubt that CEO Musk used X to assist President-elect Trump's return to the White House. In July, he declared support for Trump through X, and in August, he hosted a two-hour audio show featuring a conversation with Trump. On election day, the 5th, he held an audio town hall and appealed to his 203 million followers to vote for Trump.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino responded on the 6th to a post stating, "All presidential candidates will realize how much of a difference X made in the 2024 election, and X will undoubtedly become the public square of humanity," by saying, "I have been ordered to work," showing her agreement.
Some negative voices have emerged in academia regarding this. Steven Livingston, founding director of the Data, Democracy, and Politics Institute at George Washington University, told the NYT, "X has turned from a public forum into a megaphone." Additionally, Jitar Johar, professor at Columbia Business School, pointed out, "X has become the stronghold of Trump propaganda," and noted, "There is no doubt that it will be identified as 'Trump's X' going forward."
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