By News Desk
WASHINGTON: Elon Musk and the social media platform X are at the epicenter of election misinformation in the United States, with misleading claims by the billionaire amassing two billion views this year, according to a report from the non-profit organization Center for Countering Digital Hate. Experts in election and misinformation have raised alarms over X’s role in disseminating false information about crucial battleground states likely to influence the presidential race.
A spokesperson for X asserted that the platform’s Community Notes feature, which allows users to add context to posts, is proving to be more effective in helping users identify misleading content than traditional warning labels. Since Musk’s acquisition of the platform, content moderation has been scaled back, alongside significant layoffs.
Musk’s extensive reach—boasting nearly 203 million followers—facilitates a “network effect,” enabling content on X to proliferate to other social media platforms like Reddit and Telegram. “X serves as a conduit from one platform to another,” noted Kathleen Carley, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and a disinformation expert.
The report details that at least 87 of Musk’s posts in 2024 have promoted claims about the U.S. election that fact-checkers deem false or misleading. In Pennsylvania, a pivotal swing state, some users on X have distorted local election officials’ actions regarding incomplete voter registration forms, misrepresenting them as instances of election interference.
Philip Hensley-Robin, Pennsylvania’s executive director at Common Cause, emphasized that claims of voter fraud are unfounded, asserting that election officials have followed the rules to ensure only eligible voters participate. Additionally, an X account with 117,000 followers was found to be instrumental in spreading a false video allegedly showing Pennsylvania mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed.
X’s spokesperson indicated that the platform has taken action against many accounts involved in sharing the misleading video.
