Elon Musk has used the social media platform he owns to amass practically 3.3 billion views on X by fueling doubts about election safety points since January this yr — making the tech mogul one of the vital viral voices on elections throughout the 2024 marketing campaign, a CBS Information investigation has discovered.
Musk has continuously shared conspiratorial narratives which were vexing to public officers who’re attempting to keep up People’ confidence within the election within the face of a barrage of misinformation and disinformation.
At his first solo look at a pro-Trump rally in Philadelphia final week, Musk claimed, “Statistically there are some very unusual issues that occur which can be statistically extremely unlikely.” He then repeated debunked claims in regards to the validity of vote tallies produced by Dominion voting machines. However even earlier than he took the stage, Musk had already emerged as a prolific conduit for election misinformation on X, previously referred to as Twitter.
“The aim all alongside has been to import as many unlawful voters as potential,” Musk posted in July, echoing the conspiracy that Democrats are purposefully letting immigrants enter the nation illegally to vote within the upcoming presidential election. The publish gained 45.8 million views.
The CBS Information Confirmed staff fact-checked Musk’s posts on election safety and located that 55% include deceptive or false statements, or amplify posts that do. Additional evaluation of those posts confirmed that 40 of the accounts Musk replied to or reposted have been accounts researchers have recognized as promoters of voter fraud claims.
Musk didn’t reply to CBS Information’ request for remark.
CBS Information collected greater than 48,000 of Musk’s posts over the previous 4 years, with assist from the Worldwide Heart for Journalists Disarming Disinformation program and the analysis group Convocation Analysis+Design. The evaluation centered on X posts on the subject of election administration, safety and operation.
An evaluation of practically 17,000 of Musk’s posts from this yr, in addition to 1000’s extra he replied to or reposted, discovered 361 posts particularly on the subject of potential election fraud in U.S. elections. Though these election posts symbolize a small fraction of the handfuls of posts Musk publishes every day, each had a median of 9.3 million views as Musk continues to be the most adopted profile on X.
Consultants are involved that such excessive viewers engagement on posts amplifying election fraud conspiracies may set the stage for potential post-election chaos.
“On election evening, if Trump believes he is shedding, he’s prone to unfold large quantities of disinformation in regards to the existence of fraud,” stated David Becker, government director of the Heart of Election Innovation and Analysis.
“I feel we are able to say with close to certainty, Elon Musk goes to take these feedback and unfold them out to a whole bunch of tens of millions of individuals to be consumed instantly, whereas election officers are busy counting ballots,” Becker stated.
Mekela Panditharatne, senior counsel for the Brennan Heart for Justice’s Elections & Authorities Program, agreed. “I feel that that is galvanizing unfounded fears and considerations in regards to the election course of, and making ready for the potential of unfounded challenges to election ends in the aftermath,” she stated.
Musk’s elevated engagement with election conspiracies has mirrored his embrace of the institution political proper.
The tech entrepreneur stated that he voted Republican for the primary time in a Texas congressional race in June 2022. A month later, he wrote that he thought it was time “for Trump to hold up his hat.” Over the following two years, posts criticizing President Biden and the prosecution of Trump grew to become extra frequent.
On July 13, 2024, the day of the primary tried assassination of Trump, Musk introduced his formal endorsement of the Republican candidate for a second time period. Since then, his posts have proven full-throated assist for Trump.
“I’ve by no means been materially lively in politics earlier than, however this time I feel civilization as we all know it’s on the road,” Musk posted final month. “If we wish to protect freedom and a meritocracy in America, then Trump should win.”
Since then he has campaigned with the previous president in Arizona and contributed greater than $74.95 million to the America PAC, an excellent PAC that helps Trump’s reelection.
JIM WATSON/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Musk has additionally used his platform to go head-to-head with election officers who attempt to refute his conspiracies. This weekend he posted on X claiming that Michigan has extra registered voters than eligible residents. Michigan Secretary of State Joceyln Benson responded with a correction, saying that there usually are not extra voters than residents within the state. “There are 7.2 million lively registered voters and seven.9 million residents of voting age in our state,” her publish stated. “@elonmusk is spreading harmful disinformation.”
“Jocelyn Michelle Benson, disgrace on you for blatantly mendacity to the general public!” Musk responded. The publish amassed 24.2 million views and 39,000 retweets in lower than three days.
The skepticism on-line directed in direction of election officers like Benson can have real-world impacts. The secretary stated that she and her staff obtained an uptick in threats and harassing messages directed to her workplace after Musk’s publish. She ended up asking her safety staff to give attention to defending her kids and her government assistant after messages began coming in utilizing excessive language and echoing the considerations about voter registration numbers, citing two incidents of swatting earlier this yr.
“It is unnerving as a result of his actions result in a direct uptick in threats to me and different election officers round Michigan,” she instructed CBS Information. “That is all occurring when early voting is unfolding in Michigan, and whereas my staff must be centered totally on making voting work correctly, they’re having to cope with this as an alternative.”
Benson’s expertise will not be distinctive. “We’ve got seen plenty of election officers who’ve expressed the view that Musk’s posts coincide with a surge in questions from constituents in regards to the integrity of the method,” stated Panditharatne. “Musk’s posts have inspired vitriol directed at election officers.”
Musk focuses on non-citizens, machines and mail voting
Greater than half of Musk’s posts on election safety this yr relate to non-citizen voting or illustration in Congress, with many repeating the conspiracy that Democrats below the Biden administration are deliberately permitting a rise in immigration to spice up their political energy.
Some posts even lengthen past the upcoming presidential election to a future political panorama.
“My prediction is that if Kamala wins, the Dems will import and legalize sufficient migrants to make sure a everlasting one-party rule that’s more and more socialist (to a confiscatory stage) and repressive,” wrote Musk in a September publish.
The concept that Democrats are “importing voters” echoes the “nice substitute principle,” a conspiracy, extensively decried as racist, that White voters are being changed by non-White voters getting into the nation.
“These sorts of lies make the idea that the ‘actual’ voters are White voters,” stated Gilda Daniels, writer and professor on the College of Baltimore Legislation Faculty. “That other-ism, that concept that immigration is uncontrolled, and so we now have all these people who find themselves not White [voting].”
Non-citizen voting is not widespread, and it’s already unlawful for non-citizens to vote in nationwide elections. Non-citizens who vote can face fines, jail time, and even deportation. A Washington Submit evaluation of the conservative Heritage Basis’s information discovered that of two billion votes solid since 1979, there have been solely 85 instances involving allegations of non-citizen voting.
Different posts that Musk continuously engages with talk about potential tampering with voting machines, vulnerabilities of absentee voting, and the necessity for stricter picture ID legal guidelines. His posts on mail-in ballots have a mixed 344 million views, and posts about voter ID have a mixed 524 million views. He additionally advocates for hand-counting paper ballots with out machines, which specialists say makes it tough to audit ballots for accuracy.
“They’re throwing all the pieces in opposition to the wall and seeing what sticks,” stated Becker. “As with all disinformation, it isn’t primarily based in any respect on reality or precise insurance policies that should be improved upon or modified. It’s primarily based solely upon final result, as a result of [Musk] is very invested in seeing a Donald Trump presidency.”
Amplification of the acute
An evaluation by Convocation Analysis + Design, or CoRD, a analysis lab that focuses on disinformation and the far-right, has discovered that the accounts he replies to reposts probably the most on this matter primarily publish far-right concepts, together with the nice substitute principle.
“An increasing number of typically these accounts Musk is participating with are far proper, and turn out to be additional proper,” stated Sam Smith, co-founder of CoRD.
“We’ve got witnessed Musk turn out to be extra right-wing in his posting, in addition to extra political.”
Inside his most amplified accounts are a number of profiles recognized to interact in far proper ideology. On the subject of election safety, he engages probably the most with “EndWokeness,” an account recognized for spreading conspiracies about immigration and posting racist memes. Earlier this yr, Musk reposted an EndWokeness publish falsely claiming that the variety of individuals registering to vote with out a picture ID in three states was “skyrocketing.”
“Extraordinarily regarding,” Musk wrote in a publish that gained 65.7 million views. State election officers confirmed that the numbers within the publish represented the variety of requests from the states to the Social Safety Administration to confirm voter identities, not new voter registrations.
Researchers are involved with the way in which that Musk’s engagement with right-wing accounts could alter the posts different X customers see on their profiles.
“If Musk continuously engages with or amplifies far-right content material, the platform’s algorithm could prioritize comparable content material for his followers. This could result in an unintended publicity to excessive viewpoints, misinformation, or dangerous ideologies,” stated Smith.
Republican lawmakers and conservative activists are additionally among the many high ten accounts Musk interacts with on the subject of election integrity: Speaker of the Home Mike Johnson, Sen. Mike Lee’s alt account “BasedMikeLee,” and Steven Miller, former senior adviser to President Trump, who now runs America First authorized.
In response to a thread from Johnson on the SAVE Act, a invoice that might have required proof of citizenship to vote, Musk wrote “Those that oppose this are traitors. All Caps: TRAITORS. What’s the penalty for traitors once more?” The repost had 56.8 million views.
For election evening, and the times after, specialists like Becker are involved in regards to the attain of Musk’s posts and the influence they could have on belief within the course of.
“After we see assaults on the judiciary, after we see assaults on regulation enforcement, after we see assaults on election officers, after we see assaults on voters themselves, these will most likely be amplified by Musk on his platform that he owns,” he stated.
“So, the flexibility of the reality to achieve residents goes to be extraordinarily restricted whereas the flexibility of liars to defraud residents goes to be maximized,” Becker stated.
Info about voting
- Non-citizen voting refers to voting by unauthorized immigrants, green-card holders, or immigrants on momentary visas. Voting by these teams is not widespread. Federal regulation requires citizenship to vote in nationwide elections, and voters attest below penalty of perjury that they’re residents once they register. Non-citizens who vote can face fines, jail time and even deportation. A Washington Submit evaluation of the conservative Heritage Basis’s information discovered that of two billion votes solid since 1979, there have been solely 85 instances involving allegations of non-citizen voting. A examine of Arizona voter rolls discovered 1,934 voters in Arizona have been non-citizens — 0.04% of the state’s registered voters. After the 2016 election, evaluation by the Brennan Heart for Justice discovered 30 instances of suspected non-citizens voting reported by election officers out of 23.5 million votes solid in 42 jurisdictions that have been reviewed.
- Non-citizen illustration: The Structure states that every one individuals needs to be counted within the apportionment of seats within the Home of Representatives, which is used to calculate the variety of electoral votes every state receives. Even when the census features a citizenship query, based on the Structure, non-citizens can be counted within the inhabitants totals used for figuring out congressional and electoral illustration. Analyses by the Pew Analysis Heart and Heart for Immigration Research discovered that not counting non-citizens in apportionment of Home seats would have minimal influence on the extra seats that traditionally lean towards Democrats.
- Voting machines should cross federal and state certification requirements to be deployed and are examined earlier than voters solid their ballots to verify they’re working correctly. Moreover, whereas voting machines are extremely correct in counting votes, extensively used paper ballots permit these machine counts to be checked and audited by individuals. Forty-nine states carried out a post-election audit of some variety, together with Pennsylvania, which discovered simply 24 discrepancies among the many 201,715 whole votes officers reviewed in 2023. That is about 1/100 of 1% of all ballots audited. In accordance with the Election Infrastructure Authorities Coordinating Council and others, “The entire states with shut ends in the 2020 presidential race” had paper data of every vote.
- Mail-in voting: Traditionally, mail poll programs have had bipartisan belief. Safety measures shield in opposition to vulnerabilities equivalent to tampering, impersonation and poll stuffing. Mail-in ballots are enclosed in sealed envelopes which can be confirmed for eligibility. The voter’s id is verified by signature and different figuring out data to make sure it matches particulars on file. A number of election employees members or bipartisan groups are current when ballots are retrieved and dealt with all through the method. Election officers monitor issued ballots to stop duplicate voting with serial numbers or barcodes, and the variety of ballots obtained is in comparison with the variety of voters who utilized for a poll. Suspicious ballots are investigated and relayed to regulation enforcement as wanted.
James LaPorta,
,
Emma Li and
Laura Doan
contributed to this report.
