On November 5, 2024, Elon Musk declared his support for Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election via his platform X, following an assassination attempt against the former president on July 13. Musk's announcement reached 200 million followers and he subsequently donated $120 million to America PAC, a political action committee supporting Trump.
However, recent research suggests that Musk's support may not be sufficient. Timothy Graham from the University of Queensland and Mark Andrejevic from Monash University examined political messages on X and found that posts supporting Republicans, including Musk's, gained significantly more visibility compared to those attacking Democrats, particularly Vice President Kamala Harris.
Since Musk's announcement, his posts have seen a 138% increase in views, with retweets and likes rising by 238% and 186%, respectively. This surge is notably higher than that of other popular political accounts on the platform.
While the exact workings of X's algorithm remain unclear, investigations by the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal indicate a stronger presence of Republican content compared to Democratic posts. This raises questions about the platform's neutrality, especially given Musk's history of allegedly influencing algorithmic operations.
The issue of social media's influence on politics is particularly pressing during election periods, with a Pew Research Center survey revealing that 78% of American adults believe social media exerts excessive influence on political life.
Following the Capitol riots, platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube suspended Trump's account, prompting him to create his own platform, Truth Social, which has not met expectations. After acquiring Twitter and rebranding it to X, Musk reinstated all previously suspended accounts, asserting that true free speech could only flourish on the platform.