According to a New York Times report on Monday (local time), Musk has posted an average of 100 political posts a day since Friday, the day of the presidential election. The number of posts he posted reached 400 through Friday, the 8th.
Through X, he continues to talk about “a bright future for Trump.” He also encourages X users to choose X as a platform to continue conservative dialogue, asking for “reporting” on Trump’s return to power on behalf of news media. X CEO Linda Yakarino is also sympathetic to the Musk-led atmosphere.
The popularity of traditional media has plummeted, and X said, “I have been ordered to work. I report this,” in response to a post to the effect that X will deliver the “truth.”
Musk has been using X as a vehicle for Trump’s campaign for months during this presidential election. He declared his support for Trump in July and did an audio show in August where he talked to Trump on X for about two hours. Trump’s X account was suspended after inciting a congressional riot in early January 2021, just before he left the first term, when Musk revived Trump’s account in November 2022, the month after X’s acquisition.
After that, Trump did not write on X for a while, but began posting regularly again around the X audio show with Musk in August. On the 5th, the day of the presidential election, Musk held an audio town hall and appealed to his followers of 203 million to vote for Trump.
In his presidential victory speech early the next morning, Trump pointed to Musk and praised him for contributing to his victory, saying, “A star is born? Elon!” In response to Musk’s move, Stephen Livingston, the first director of George Washington University’s Data, Democracy and Politics Institute, said, “X has become a ‘church’ of the conservative movement. It was a venue for public debate, but it has turned into a megaphone.”
After Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022, he began transforming X into a right-wing biased platform. A few weeks after the acquisition, he abolished the existing content modification guidelines that filter fake news and others under the pretext of “freedom of expression.” He then announced the appointment of Yakarino as CEO in May 2023 and changed the service name to X two months later.
Last year, Musk instructed X engineers to add code to ensure his account posts were well exposed, making his account the most popular following account on X.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
