American billionaire Elon Musk has used his social media platform
Musk, 53, who said he has voted for Democratic presidential candidates in the past, has become more publicly right-leaning during this election campaign. He endorsed Trump in July and appeared with him in Pennsylvania this month.
If re-elected, Trump promises to appoint Musk as head of the Commission on Government Efficiency, a job that Musk pledges will help rid the country of regulations he views as bad for the economy and a deterrent to doing business.
The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the owner of
Neither Musk nor the presidential campaign of Democrat Kamala Harris responded Reuters Requests for comment on Musk’s pro-Trump activities.
Here are some ways Musk supports Trump.
America Pak
Musk’s pro-Trump spending group, America PAC, is playing a key role in helping mobilize and register voters in battleground states that could decide the election. Musk, ranked by Forbes magazine as the world’s richest person, has so far given at least $75 million to political action committees, according to federal filings.
US political action committees spent about $72 million of that total from July to September, according to disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission. That’s more than any other major pro-Trump super PAC focused on voter turnout.
In some battleground states, US political action committees are struggling to meet door-knocking goals and are investigating allegations that some canvassers lied about the number of voters they contacted. Reuters I mentioned last week.
X platform
Musk has more than 202 million followers on the social media platform X, which he bought for $44 billion in October 2022, when it was known as Twitter. Since endorsing Trump, he has used the platform to promote the Republican candidate. Some of his posts spread misleading information and raise doubts about the integrity of the upcoming elections.
In July, for example, he commented on a post by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, writing: “The goal all along was to bring in as many illegal voters as possible,” repeating the false claim that Democrats were intentionally letting nonvoters cast ballots. Citizens to the country so they can vote in elections.
In the same month, he shared a video created using artificial intelligence and manipulation of Vice President Harris’ voice, in which Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, described herself as the “ultimate diversity employee” and criticized President Joe Biden.
Musk has criticized diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs aimed at promoting racial and ethnic representation in workplaces, posting in January, for example, that “DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it.”
X and other social media platforms have been under greater scrutiny since 2016, when Russia interfered in the US presidential election to try to boost Trump’s candidacy and harm his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
Since Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in 2022, civil rights groups have raised concerns about a rise in hate speech and misinformation due to decreased content moderation.
Under X’s current policy, the platform may “label posts containing misleading media to help people understand their authenticity and provide additional context” or remove misleading posts that have a high risk of harm.
However, researchers say it remains a source of election misinformation, through fake accounts and Musk’s amplification of this content.
Million dollars donated
Musk is also promising to give away $1 million a day to randomly selected people to sign his online petition in which he pledges to support the First and Second Amendments to the US Constitution, which protect the rights to free speech and gun ownership. The petition is open only to signatories of registered voters in seven battleground states likely to decide the presidential election.
The petition falls within a gray area of election law, and legal experts are divided over whether Musk might violate the ban on paying people to register to vote. Critics say it’s a ploy to help shore up support for Trump.
America PAC posts promotional video interviews and photos of people who won $1 million in giveaways on Musk’s X, receiving millions of views. Petition signers must provide their address and cell phone number, indicating they can then be contacted by US PAC door knockers.
Campaign brainstorming
Musk joined Trump at an October 5 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the scene of a July assassination attempt against the Republican nominee, and returned to the state for more campaign stops less than two weeks later.
While touring Pennsylvania, Musk made a series of false claims about election fraud, some of which echo those Trump has made in the past four years.
He also encouraged people to use his X platform to highlight potential election fraud.
“If people think there is a scam, they should post pictures, post videos, post evidence,” he said.