For several months, Elon Musk has been multiplying his antics and false information on the social network X. Recently, he also gave his support to Donald Trump.
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Elon Musk is hiding his support for Donald Trump less and less, as demonstrated by the exchange he had on X on the night of Monday 12 to Tuesday 13 August with the former president and current candidate for the White House. For more than 40 minutes, the two men talked politics and economics, sometimes using shocking terms, relaying false information. An increasingly recurrent practice for the billionaire, who regularly shares it on his X account.
franceinfo asked Tristan Mendès France, specialist in digital cultures and online extremism and speaker on the franceinfo podcast Complorama, to understand how far Elon Musk can go.
franceinfo: This forty-minute sequence of discussion on X with Donald Trump, does it mark a turning point for Elon Musk?
Tristan Mendes France : Elon Musk has officially supported Trump, especially after the assassination attempt on Trump. But he has been a vocal supporter long before that. What is absolutely clear is that today, Elon Musk is campaigning, indirectly, but in any case a campaign for Trump. He is, as they say in the United States, a assethe is an important part of the Trump campaign, at least on social platforms. There is no organic connection, since he is not part of the campaign team. But with this official support and his public expression, he is one of the best soldiers in terms of audience on social platforms, and especially X.
Beyond this complacent interview, there is also the problem of fake news. Elon Musk shares it quite often, in favor of the extreme right.
What is quite fascinating about Elon Musk is that we really have the impression, in recent months in particular, that he has completely let go, that he is almost freewheeling. He truly feels all-powerful on his platform. And what is also quite disconcerting is that he is often on the edge, on the limit. He is, I believe, quite aware of the risks, particularly in terms of justice. But he, of course, is subject to the American justice system, which protects the First Amendment in a very significant way.
“He ignores the moral and ethical practices of his platform.”
Tristan Mendes-Franceto franceinfo
He is really on this ridge line where he plays, by provoking, by relaying false information. He also shows that he can, quite simply, erase them, without even subsequently verbalizing the fact that he relayed false information. He will sweep it under the carpet, which is not a good practice on X. He probably has an extremely loose relationship with information practices. Journalistic ethics, I won’t even talk about it.
So what could stop him?
Today, only justice could put obstacles in his way regarding what he can express or relay online. But it must be said that he is quite cautious, he will either delete publications when something is blatantly false, or relay content that is sufficiently ambiguous so that he can be almost certain that he will not have legal problems later.
A few days ago, Thierry Breton already warned him about the non-compliance with European rules, in particular about the lack of moderation of X, but can that really have an impact?
In recent days, in an exchange with Thierry Breton who challenged him, particularly after the sequence of urban violence in Great Britain, Elon Musk literally insulted Thierry Breton in an extremely vulgar and obscene manner, publicly on X.
In response, he simply responded with an insult, which is both an insult to the European Union because Thierry Breton represents the European Union, but which is an absolutely unprecedented mode of communication from a manager of an international platform. This is unprecedented today and it shows the level of perception that Elon Musk has of the European Union as a whole, which he discredits in an absolutely spectacular way.
Moreover, Thierry Breton added it to the case brought against X by the European Union. But as for the future, I don’t know what that will lead to. The European Union has been in discussions with the major platforms, including X, for months on issues of moderation of their own platform with regard to European Union regulations.
Unfortunately, for the moment, we do not see the consequences. And I think that as long as Elon Musk does not face a definitive decision from the European Union, he will continue. It could be fines, temporary suspensions. But the problem is that the European Union has a time to intervene that is not that of the urgency of the issues it is facing.