Elon Musk, with nearly 200 million followers on social platform X, is a central figure in the dissemination of information. In the span of just one week, Musk was particularly active, sharing numerous posts on topics ranging from illegal immigration to election integrity, even as he targeted Democratic Party figures. His posts, often lacking crucial context or even misleading, have reached an audience of more than 800 million people.
Since acquiring X (formerly known as Twitter) in 2022, Musk has used the platform to promote conservative political views, most notably endorsing Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign. About a third of Musk's posts from the week analyzed contained inaccuracies, including incorrect claims about legal changes affecting memes and immigration policies allegedly aimed at manipulating election results.
One of Musk's most popular posts inaccurately predicted the outcome of the presidential race in Trump's favor, based on outdated data and viewed by more than 100 million people. Despite user corrections and more favorable predictions for Vice President Kamala Harris, no changes were made to the original post.
Musk's claim to strive for political neutrality on of transgenders.
Misinformation regarding California's new regulations on deepfakes also figured prominently in Musk's posts. He inaccurately claimed that these laws would ban all forms of parody, misrepresenting legislation intended to curb deceptive digital replicas of real individuals, especially around elections.
Content moderation on X, especially through the Community Notes program, has been both a tool and a topic of discussion. This program allows users to suggest corrections to misleading posts, but only a few corrections have been made widely visible.
This analysis highlights the current challenges and complexities of managing misinformation on major social platforms as the 2024 election approaches. The influence exerted by figures like Musk and the critical examination of these dynamics continue to be essential to understanding and address the spread of misinformation in digital spaces.
