Campaign Financing, Fake News… How Elon Musk Supports Donald Trump for the US Presidential Election

The very powerful boss of Space X, Tesla or X (ex-Twitter) has not hidden his sympathy for Donald Trump for weeks. And he intends to use all his power to make him win the election on November 5.

The two men have never seemed so close. Elon Musk publicly announced that he would vote for Donald Trump after the assassination attempt on the former president. It didn’t exactly come as a surprise, although, let’s remember, Elon Musk says he voted for Joe Biden in 2020.

For months, his statements have confirmed that he leans towards the Republicans, that he agrees on economic issues, a certain idea of ​​freedom of expression, but also on the hatred of “wokeism”. Another sign of their closeness, this statement by Donald Trump on September 5: “I will create a Task Force on Government Efficiency to conduct a financial audit of all federal government activities. It will make recommendations for drastic reforms. And Elon has agreed to lead it since he’s not very busy.”

This commission is also an idea of ​​Elon Musk. “I look forward to serving America if the opportunity presents itself. No need for a salary, title or recognition.”he posted on Twitter.

So Elon Musk has an interest in getting Donald Trump elected, and being the richest man in the world can help. His fortune is estimated at $248 billion by Forbes. The Wall Street Journal revealed that he would be donating $45 million a month to Donald Trump’s campaign, but Elon Musk denied the news. And of course, Elon Musk has owned Twitter since 2022, which he later renamed X. The platform is followed by 197 million people, and Musk tweets a lot against Kamala Harris and her allies, like Taylor Swift. The pop star confirmed her support for the Democratic candidate on Tuesday night, alluding to a mockery by Republicans about Democratic women who don’t have children and live with their cats. “Very well Taylor, you win. I will give you a child and I will defend your cats”Elon Musk quipped a few minutes later.

Elon Musk obviously has the right to say what he wants, but he also tends to relay conspiracy theories about electoral fraud, for example. Stephen Richer, head of the election organization in Maricopa County, Arizona, has had enough. “Normally, this is not a problem, but when these messages come from an account with billions of followers, some people take them at their word!he explains on MSNBC. These are departments like mine that are suffering the consequences. And some of those consequences can be violent. So I just say to people like Elon Musk, please check your information up front so that we don’t have to see these attacks on our institutions down the line.”

We also saw that a group in favor of Kamala Harris encountered connection problems on X (ex-Twitter). A technical problem, according to the platform. But not a reason to cry manipulation, believes Anupam Chander, professor of law at Georgetown University: “He’s using his personal account to push Donald Trump’s candidacy. That’s clear. But using Twitter’s algorithms to promote his candidate to the detriment of his opponent, that’s another matter. And I haven’t seen any evidence that he’s doing that. It’s too early to conclude that he’s going to manipulate Twitter.”

And then beyond Twitter, Elon Musk can also use his economic weight either as the boss of Tesla’s 140,000 employees or with Space X, without which the United States could no longer have space ambitions today.

It is nothing new for a media boss to use his influence politically. Rupert Murdoch, the omnipresent billionaire and boss of Fox News, is another example. But the American channel remains subject to a certain number of rules that Twitter does not.

The social network is protected in the United States by Section 230, which guarantees freedom of expression on the Internet. Basically, Twitter is not responsible for what people say there. “Elon Musk said that Twitter is a media with a clear editorial line and that is not a problem in itselfexplains Imran Ahmed, founder of the Center Against Online Hate. But a media outlet has to be accountable. The moment you have a political agenda and you’re pushing it through lies and misinformation, there has to be a way to hold you accountable for the harm that those lies and misinformation can cause.”

“Any institution with unchecked power is dangerous.”

Imran Ahmed, founder of the Center Against Online Hate

to franceinfo

Elon Musk does not agree with this analysis. Moreover, Imran Ahmed accuses him of having called him a “rat”. The kind of insult that Donald Trump would not deny.