How Elon Musk Became a Driver of Election Disinformation

When Elon Musk took over ownership of Twitter, researchers and election officials worried that the platform would become a vehicle for the rampant spread of misinformation, leading to threats, harassment, and undermining democracy. Those fears have come to fruition, and Musk himself has emerged as a leading disseminator of misinformation.

The tech billionaire raised concerns about vote-counting machines and mail-in ballots, common practices in U.S. elections. He also repeated a claim, often cited by Republicans, that there is significant participation by non-citizens in elections, something that is illegal in most cases.

Musk, who owns Tesla and other tech companies, is scheduled to interview Donald Trump on Monday. The two are expected to agree on several of these election theories. Musk is a vocal supporter of the former U.S. president and current Republican candidate, and under his direction, Twitter/X has restored the accounts of individuals banned by the previous administration, dismantling the platform’s fact-checking and security features. Trump’s X account, suspended after the Jan. 6 insurrection, has also been reactivated, though he has yet to actively use the platform again.

In July, Musk told X that “electronic voting machines and anything sent through the mail are too risky. We should make it mandatory to only have paper ballots and vote in person.” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer responded by offering a tour of the county’s Arizona facilities to explain the mail-in voting process. Richer said Musk could inspect all the equipment and ask any questions he had to understand the stringent security measures already in place.

This wasn’t the only time Richer tried to correct election misinformation shared by Musk. He previously tried to clear up misunderstandings about Arizona voter data and the rules for proving citizenship.

Social media platforms have generally been less aggressive in fact-checking false election claims, in part because of pressure from Republican lawmakers and their allies who have criticized how the information was handled and how the platforms responded to it. Mekela Panditharatne, a senior adviser in the Brennan Center’s elections and government program, noted that “X really stands out as a place where this change is notable, and the fact that it’s coming from the top shows how much of a problem this is.”

Musk recently shared a video featuring an AI-generated voice imitating Kamala Harris, raising concerns that it could fool some people into believing it was real. Musk and the video’s creator have defended the stunt as a parody.

He has also repeatedly claimed that non-citizens are voting in US elections, which is illegal except in some local elections. While there are few documented cases of non-citizens voting or registering to vote, Musk shared a video of Elizabeth Warren discussing a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented people in the US. He commented, “As I was saying, they are importing voters,” referring to the “great replacement” theory.

The platform’s AI chatbot, Grok, which Musk has billed as an “anti-woke” alternative to left-leaning chatbots, has spread false information about voting deadlines in nine states, leading to claims that the vice president would not be able to get on the ballot in those states, which is not true. Secretaries of state have been urging Musk to fix this issue, as other chatbots, such as ChatGPT, have built barriers to prevent the spread of election misinformation.

“It’s crucial that social media companies, especially those with global reach, correct the mistakes they make, like the Grok AI chatbot, which simply got the rules wrong,” Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon told the Washington Post. “Speaking out now can reduce the risk that any social media company will refuse or delay correcting its own mistakes between now and the November election.”

Off-platform, a political action committee created by Musk has been collecting personal information from voters in key states on a portal that initially appears to be a voter registration site. According to CNBC, America Pac, a pro-Trump group funded by Musk’s vast wealth, is targeting voters in swing states. The data collection is under investigation by at least two states.

Despite his ongoing claims of voter fraud, Musk told the Atlantic this month that he would accept the results of the 2024 election, on one condition. “If there are election integrity issues, they should be properly investigated and not dismissed out of hand or questioned without reason,” he said. “If, after reviewing the results, it turns out that Kamala won, that victory should be recognized and not challenged.”

With information from The Guardian