2024-10-05 14:47:42
Elon Muskproprietor of X (previously Twitter) made 171 posts at the social community between Monday, September 16 and Friday, September 20. Of that quantity, nearly a 3rd are messages which can be false, deceptive, or missing crucial context. The information was once published via the American newspaper The New York Instances, which highlighted the way in which through which the landlord of the platform amplified disinformation in a duration of intense political process.
On September 19, simply earlier than the previous president Donald Trump gave a speech at a rally in New York, rumors started to flow into on-line in regards to the alleged detection of a bomb within the house. Even if the tips was once denied, Musk determined to proportion it together with his nearly 200 million fans on X.
Between Monday and Friday, Musk posted a lot of messages, lots of which addressed subjects reminiscent of unlawful immigration, voter fraud theories, and grievance of Democratic applicants. Disinformation mavens have expressed fear about how Musk makes use of his affect on X to unfold unfounded claims, particularly since he got the platform in 2022 and followed extra conservative political stances.
Even if Musk mentioned in 2022 that “Twitter needs to be politically impartial,” his posts all through the election marketing campaign have more and more mirrored his non-public politics, that have turn out to be extra expressly pro-Trump via criticizing Covid-19 lockdowns, the rights of transgender other folks and executive law.
IMMIGRATION AND DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES. The artwork which can be painted yellow have political content material and their measurement corresponds to the choice of perspectives they’d: between 50 and 100 million. / NEW YORK TIMES.
A few of Elon Musk’s 171 messages
Some of the 171 messages analyzed, a number of deceptive posts had been known. Some wrongly claimed that Democrats had been banning memes and looking for to “open the border” to draw immigrant citizens. Those messages generated greater than 800 million perspectives, highlighting the have an effect on Musk has at the unfold of deceptive knowledge.
Amongst his maximum notable posts was once an inaccurate projection of the presidential race that confirmed Trump successful the vast majority of battleground states in line with an old-fashioned forecast via the American statistician. Nate Silver. Even if customers identified the inaccuracy, Musk didn’t proper or delete the publish.
DENIAL. One of the most false messages is the republishing of a public opinion ballot about Trump and Kamala, in line with an old-fashioned forecast via Nate Silver. / SCREEN CAPTURE.
Maximum of Musk’s messages all through that week excited about politics, addressing problems reminiscent of immigration and freedom of speech. In accordance with new rules in California regulating positive deceptive content material, Musk shared a manipulative video that falsely claimed that the legislation would limit all parody when in reality there have been exceptions for this kind of content material.
Moreover, Musk amplified claims in regards to the affect of unauthorized immigrants in elections, even if they don’t have the precise to vote. A few of his posts come from extremist figures and conspiracy theorists already identified for spreading disinformation.
FAKE. The picture says: ‘206 Democrats voted in order that non-Americans can vote.’ / SCREEN CAPTURE.
Do group notes paintings?
As for content material moderation, dozens of Musk’s posts had been flagged via X’s “Group Notes” program, which will depend on consumer collaboration to suggest corrections. Alternatively, a majority of these notes stay proposed and don’t seem to be visual to all customers until authorized via different contributors.
Regardless of grievance and the proliferation of incorrect information, Musk persevered his wondered process at the platform. In one in every of his messages he even celebrated the expansion of the “Group Notes” program, urging customers to record deceptive messages.
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