Since acquiring the social network in late 2022, the South African billionaire, who could be part of a possible future Trumpist government, has made the platform, now X, a voice to defend far-right ideas but also his financial interests.
“I am ready to serve.” Will Elon Musk be part of a Trump government if the former US president wins the November election? The Tesla and SpaceX boss said he was willing to take on a position of responsibility as a minister or advisor at the White House on Tuesday, August 20. “He is a very intelligent man. I will certainly do it,” Donald Trump had launched the day before, in an interview with Reuters. A week earlier, the two billionaires displayed their agreement on the social network X during a conversation full of complacency, lambasting the Democratic camp. Illegal immigration is compared to a “zombie apocalypse” And Kamala Harris, who has just been officially sworn in, is accused of being a candidate “far left”.
If the multi-entrepreneur seems “freewheeling” for several months, between provocations and disinformation, its conservative positions date back to its acquisition of Twitter in October 2022. Under the leadership of its new owner, the face (and name) of the platform has drastically changed, testifying to the gradual shift of this king of tech into an ally of choice for ultra-conservatives, in the United States and elsewhere.
Since January, on his X account, the most followed on the social network with 195 million subscribers, he has published 50 false posts about the presidential election, notes the NGO Center for Countering Digital Hate on its blog. Among his recent publications is, for example, a fake video of Kamala Harris denigrating Joe Biden. Two and a half months before a presidential election that promises to be particularly undecided, the omnipotent boss of the platform is taking advantage of his gigantic broadcasting capacity to propagate his opinions, while the social network has no fewer than 35 million undecided American voters among its monthly users, according to a survey conducted for X in early August.
His attacks also cross the Atlantic: “Civil war is inevitable”he tweeted on August 4 about the racist riots in the United Kingdom, hateful rhetoric that did not please the British government. He is also named in a complaint filed in mid-August by Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif for cyberbullying, after he participated in a controversy about her gender during the 2024 Olympics.
According to a survey published on August 12 by the Washington Postthe billionaire’s political tweets have accounted for 17% of his news feed since the start of 2024, a “vertiginous rise” compared to before the buyout (2% in 2021). Conversely, his publications on Tesla and SpaceX, his two main companies, those which made his fortune and fame, fell from 30% to 13% over the same period.
One of Elon Musk’s first actions after his acquisition was to restore Donald Trump’s account, which had been suspended after his supporters stormed the Capitol. He also allowed the return of other accounts that had been “banned” for spreading disinformation or conspiracy theories, such as that of American host Alex Jones. The billionaire also purged 80% of Twitter employees, removed moderation in favor of an ineffective “community ratings” system, and made account certification chargeable, helping to reinforce disinformation.
But what is the man who has shared the title of “richest man in the world” with Jeff Bezos for several years looking for? “By claiming to work for freedom of expression, the billionaire is relaying a false conception of the internet, which masks the manipulation of personal data, the production of ‘filter bubbles’ and the premium on extreme speech on social networks.”summarized in 2022 Adrien Tallent, doctoral student in philosophy at Sorbonne University, in the journal Spirit.
Freedom of expression on X is indeed variable geometry. Elon Musk, for example, invoked it to not remove videos showing an Orthodox bishop stabbed in Sydney, while the Australian government demanded it. However, “He proved that he was capable of censoring journalists just because they wrote an article he didn’t like.”Boris Manenti, journalist at the New Obs and author of Elon Musk – The Con Man. And when it serves his own interests, he can very well collaborate with authoritarian regimes: under his leadership, X approved 83% of censorship requests from governments, also notes the news site Rest of the World.
Thus, in the middle of the Turkish presidential election in May 2023, the accounts of some opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime were frozen at the request of the government. Four months later, Elon Musk was talking to the re-elected Turkish president about possible investments by Tesla and SpaceX in Turkey, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu. “There was this moment when he had multiple meetings with autocratic dictators. It was as if he collected them like Panini stickers.”notes Boris Manenti.
A BBC documentary implicating Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also blocked from the platform in early 2023. It pointed to the leader’s role in the 2002 anti-Muslim riots. Last February, the Indian government also asked to censor publications criticizing the repression of farmer protests. And won its case. Political choices dictated by personal interests? Tesla was due to visit India in April, with a view to setting up shop there to manufacture its electric cars, before switching to China, the financial site reported Bloomberg in July.
“What drives him above all, and has always been his financial interests. Those of his companies, therefore his own. That takes precedence over everything.”
Boris Manenti, journalist and author of “Elon Musk – the Con artist”to franceinfo
Elon Musk knows how to combine business (his business) with pleasure (his ideology). In mid-July on X, he announced the move of SpaceX from California to Texas. Officially to protest against a new law protecting the rights of transgender students, introduced in the gigantic Democratic state on the West Coast. “Under the guise of a political position, he hides his personal interests. Texas has developed into a new tax haven. (…) Factories are welcomed there with large subsidies.”recalls Boris Manenti.
His obsessions? Saving humanity through transhumanism and birth rate – he had a 12e child in June – as well as the destruction of the “Woke virus”. It was this last objective that motivated his purchase of Twitter, as Elon Musk told his official biographer, Walter Isaacson. “His argument was that before, Twitter was too left, too woke. He considered that people did not have both points of view”explains analyst Carolina Milanesi, founder of the consultancy The Heart of Tech.
“Today on X, with the algorithms, we see much more of the far-right side.”
Carolina Milanesi, tech analystto franceinfo
Elon Musk is also “very close to the American alt-right movement”this so-called “alternative right” born in the late 2000s, which advocates white supremacy and fights against the rights of women, immigrants, homosexuals and transsexuals. Behind its pronatalist positioning lies above all a concern about a “declining white western population”analyses Boris Manenti. Thus he sees immigration as a threat, just like the “virus woke”, whom he accuses of having “killed” her “son”, in an interview published on X. Between him and his transgender daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson, the war is over.
The entrepreneur’s acquaintances also say a lot about his shift: the antivax podcaster Joe Rogan, the ultraconservative and libertarian Peter Thiel, with whom he founded Paypal… “There is a shift in Elon Musk at the time of Covid. He will speak in a very conservative manner, multiply conspiracy theories and populist ideas about the vaccine, speak out against the State of California…”notes journalist Boris Manenti.
Once a supporter of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a former opponent of Donald Trump for the Republican nomination, Elon Musk appears to have embraced their campaign themes. In September 2023, he broadcast a visit to the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, on X. “We want to do both: facilitate legal immigration and stop a flow of people of such magnitude that it leads to the collapse of social services.”he said.
A quid pro quo with the Republicans? “For the boss of SpaceXlanding very large contracts every year requires tough negotiations. It doesn’t happen without the support of officials. Even if Donald Trump is not elected, Elon Musk is a winner because Republican elected officials will have seen him as their ally”believes Boris Manenti.
“Politics is not his favorite subject”tempers startuper Nick Pinkston, who has met him several times in Silicon Valley, to franceinfo. “I see in his involvement a goal linked to his businesses, but also to satisfy narcissistic demands. He uses ideology to reach his right-wing fanbase, but what he is really passionate about is science and rockets.”says the founder of Plethora, recalling that the “specific interests” are specific to Asperger’s autistic people, a syndrome affecting Elon Musk.
“He’s egomaniacal at the very least. He thinks he’s God and can do whatever he wants. So far, we’ve let him do it.”
Carolina Milanesi, analystto franceinfo
For several years, Elon Musk has worked to shape his image around the figure of the visionary “self-made man” with modest origins. However, the billionaire comes from a very wealthy background in Pretoria, South Africa, a former stronghold of white domination. “He grew up in a very white environment, lulled by this little racist and virile music. There is this ideology, among the Afrikaners [Sud-Africains blancs d’origine néerlandaise à l’origine de l’apartheid]that whites are God’s chosen people and blacks are absolute evil”summarizes Boris Manenti. A fertile ground for his current positions.
Will Silicon Valley, the American tech mecca where Google, Facebook and Apple are based, and known for leaning to the left, follow in Elon Musk’s footsteps to the point of changing course in the run-up to the November presidential election? While Kamala Harris has obtained the support of 1,200 employees in the sector in a letter, the fringe that supports the Republicans nevertheless constitutes a “growing minority” in California, according to journalist Carolina Milanesi.
Like Elon Musk, who is providing substantial financial support to the Republican campaign (to the tune of $45 million per month), several tech figures have decided to contribute financially to Donald Trump’s campaign, hoping to promote cryptocurrencies and the expansion of defense technologies. The nomination of JD Vance, a former investor and close friend of Peter Thiel, as the former American president’s running mate, has, from this point of view, something to seduce the libertarians of Silicon Valley.
Although X’s advertising revenue has collapsed since the acquisition, the platform appears to have a bright future ahead of it, according to Carolina Milanesi: “Despite what X has become, the great voices of tech, like Satya Nadella [PDG de Microsoft] or Tim Cook [PDG d’Apple] remained. It shows the power that the platform has.”