NYT Conducts Comprehensive Survey of Accounts Followed by Musk
Right-Wing Politicians, Influencers, and Media Dominate
"Musk's Conversations Even Quoted by Trump"
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and a key figure in the circle of US President Donald Trump, has been found to be exposed to the views of far-right figures and conspiracy theorists through his X (formerly Twitter) account, according to analysis. Yonhap News, citing the New York Times (NYT) on the 15th (local time), reported, "The accounts Musk follows on X, as well as the content of their posts, are politically biased."
The NYT reportedly created a new X account to replicate the feed of posts that appear on Musk's personal X account. They followed all 1,109 accounts that Musk follows and analyzed over 175,000 posts published by those accounts.
Among the accounts Musk follows, right-wing politicians, influencers, and media-related accounts made up the largest share, totaling 375. Another 225 accounts were related to business, technology, space, or science, while 131 accounts were connected to companies Musk owns or manages. The remaining 48 accounts belonged to government agencies, and 43 were run by self-proclaimed Musk fans. Only 6 accounts showed a left-leaning political orientation.
Among the tens of thousands of posts uploaded each week from these accounts, nearly half originated from right-wing media figures, conservative influencers, Republican politicians, or government leaders. However, there is no guarantee that Musk saw all of these posts.
The NYT stated, "As Musk demonstrates political influence in Trump's potential second administration, the content of his conversations has even been mentioned by President Trump." In Trump's first congressional address in March, he cited federal government budget waste, saying, "We are spending money to turn rats into transgender animals." This echoed a post by a conservative animal rights group that Musk follows.
Additionally, when Tesla vehicles and stores were attacked in response to the political activities of Trump and Musk, Musk's supporters posted on X demanding that such acts be "prosecuted as terrorism and punished with 20 years in prison." Subsequently, President Trump stated that he would severely punish attacks on Tesla, saying, "You will see these sick terrorist thugs get 20-year sentences," which is interpreted as being influenced by Musk.
Musk currently has 219.7 million followers on X, making him the platform's most-followed user by a wide margin. The NYT pointed out, "Right-wing figures who share posts on Musk's X account are increasingly gaining influence offline as well."
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