Elon Musk Interviews Donald Trump on X Platform, Sparking Controversy

How Elon Musk has turned X into a pro-Trump machine

Nearly two years after Elon Musk bought Twitter and turned it into X, the billionaire is leveraging its power as a source of real-time news for millions of users to try to sway the outcome of the 2024 presidential election in favor of former President Donald Trump. Musk has already asserted his voice in the political sphere for months. He's pushed racist conspiracy theories about the Biden administration's immigration policies, obsessed over the "woke mind virus," a term used by some conservatives to describe progressive causes, and warned of the country's impending "doom" if a "red wave" does not materialize in November. But now Musk, who is not only the owner but also the most followed user on X, has shifted to more direct campaigning for former President Donald Trump. It's an unusual move for one of the world's richest men and the leader of a mainstream social network. Social media platforms have played a role in past elections: campaigns have used them to build support, foreign actors have used them in efforts to interfere in election outcomes and the industry was criticized in 2020 for restricting access to reports of Hunter Biden's laptop. And some tech leaders have spoken out about their preferred candidate for the White House. But the major platforms themselves, and especially their owners, typically do not try to affect how users will vote, save for ensuring people have basic, accurate information about voting and removing influence operations that seek to covertly manipulate people. Musk, by contrast, has turned the platform he purchased for $44 billion into his own personal, political messaging machine, seeking to influence his more than 190 million followers and, in some cases, sharing false claims from the very top. Musk announced his official endorsement for Trump in a post last month that received 2.3 million likes. And on Monday, he hosted Trump for a friendly, 2-plus-hour livestreamed conversation on X, in which he allowed the former president to make at least 20 false claims about everything from crime and immigration to tax cuts, without pushback. Trump used the conversation to fundraise, with his campaign team posting on X ahead of the event that "we're asking YOU to make this President Trump's BIGGEST FUNDRAISING DAY EVER!" X used the opportunity to send a notification - which featured Trump's profile photo - to users encouraging them to buy a subscription to the platform. CNN has reached out to X and the Trump campaign for comment. "I spent 2 1/2 hours last night talking to Elon, a fantastic guy, getting all-time record Views/hits, and all the Fake News wants to report is that the servers crashed (because of the tremendous volume!), and the show opened a little late. What they should be reporting was the incredible number of people that were listening. I absolutely HATE the Fake News Media. So bad for our Country!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social Tuesday. 'Potent set of tools to deploy to promote disinformation' The conversation built on Musk's other efforts to support Trump, whom the billionaire allowed back on the platform shortly after acquiring what was then Twitter. More recently, Musk has shared misleading content about Trump's opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, and donated to a political action committee working to get Trump elected. Musk's false or misleading claims about US elections on X have been viewed 1.2 billion times, according to an analysis published last week by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a social media watchdog group that advocates for tighter regulation of platforms that Musk unsuccessfully tried to sue last year for its critical reports about hate speech on the platform. He has, for example, raised questions about the security of voting machines and falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants can vote in US elections. "Democracy depends on people's trust in the integrity of (election) outcomes and their willingness to trust those outcomes even when their favored candidate doesn't win," Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School, told CNN, calling Musk's voting claims "deeply damaging." Musk also shared a video that used AI to make it appear that Harris had said things she, in fact, did not -- in an apparent violation of X's manipulated media policy and with only a laughing face emoji to suggest to followers that it was fake. Weeks after it was posted, the video is not labeled with a "community note," X's community fact-checking feature that Musk used as justification for slashing the company's trust and safety team. The billionaire's political posts come as X is under fire for letting false claims about immigration in the United Kingdom run wild, with Musk himself saying that "civil war is inevitable." Members of the British government alleged that the chatter on the platform helped fuel violent, far-right riots across the country -- a reminder that online rhetoric, especially from one of the world's richest and most powerful people, can have real-world impacts. "The more prominent and trusted the person spreading misinformation, the bigger the damage," Weiser said. "(Musk) has a giant platform, he has a giant pocketbook, and he has a giant name right now and that is a potent set of tools to deploy to promote disinformation and conspiracy theories." Following Monday night's conversation with Trump, Musk said he was "happy" to host a similar event with Harris, who has not sat down for an interview since becoming the Democratic nominee for president. Musk told Trump that he believes "we're in massive trouble, frankly, with a Kamala administration ... I think, really, it's essential that that you win for the good of the country." X's changing culture Beyond his own posts, many of Musk's changes as the owner of X have contributed to a broader, rightward shift in the platform's culture, including his reinstatement of White supremacists and conspiracy theorists. He also moved to make it easier for politicians and political candidates to qualify for newsworthiness exemptions from the platform's rules, when they would otherwise have had their content restricted or removed. What's more, X also twice labeled as spam and locked the account for "White Dudes for Harris," a group that had been fundraising and rallying support for the vice president's campaign -- raising questions about the platform's commitment to Musk's stated goal of "free speech" and whether it was cracking down on viewpoints that differed from Musk's. And Musk's AI chatbot Grok, which users access via X, was blasted last week by a group of secretaries of state for providing "false information" about Harris' supposed ineligibility to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot in several battleground states. In a letter, the secretaries urged Musk to "immediately implement changes" on the X platform. "I'm old enough to remember when we, at Twitter, took the industry-leading step to stop taking political ads. (Because) freedom of speech didn't entitle you to freedom of reach actually wasn't just a catchy slogan, we meant it," Lara Cohen, the platform's former vice president of marketing who left the company after Musk's takeover, said in a Threads post on Monday ahead of the Trump event. "Cut to tonight's informercial for the Trump campaign. It's pathetic to see the platform and it's (sic) owner sink lower and lower and lower every single day." Seeking a role in Trump's administration For Musk, the potential privilege of whispering in Trump's ear, should he win reelection, could give the billionaire even more power on the global stage. And it could benefit his business empire, which is largely reliant on government contracts and favorable policies. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that Musk and Trump had discussed a potential role for the billionaire in Trump's administration if he's reelected, although Musk pushed back on the report at the time. But on Monday night, Musk offered to take a role in the potential future Trump's administration helping to rein in government spending. "I think it would be great to just have a government efficiency commission that takes a look at these things and just ensures that the taxpayer money, the taxpayers' hard-earned money, is spent in a good way," Musk told Trump in the X conversation. "I'd be happy to help out on such a commission." Trump said he would "love it" if Musk were involved, noting the billionaire is a "great cutter," referencing cost-cutting measures he has taken at his companies.

Trump makes X return with Musk interview

Trump posted on X for the first time in nearly a year ahead of the interview. Former President Donald Trump is making another return to X for a conversation with tech mogul Elon Musk on Monday night as Trump continues to find different avenues to draw in new voter bases. "This is unscripted with no limits on subject matter, so should be highly entertaining," Musk posted on X to his 193.8 million followers ahead of his conversation with the former president, which is set to start at 8 p.m. on the social media platform, which Musk owns. While Trump almost exclusively posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, he took to X to post for the first time in almost a year on Monday with a flurry of posts. Among his posts, Trump shared a campaign video alluding to the legal battles he faces as he mounts a third presidential bid for the White House. He later posted a promotion of the interview on X. "#TrumpOnX," widely circulated on the social media platform on Monday promoting the livestream event. Ahead of the interview, the European Union warned that Musk he must comply with the its laws. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton posted that "with great audience comes greater responsibility." The post, addressed to Musk, included a letter that mentions the recent violence in the United Kingdom, which was partly fueled by misinformation posted and amplified on X by multiple users, including allegedly by Musk. Musk responded to criticism about those posts last week, pointing blame at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer for his response to the wave of riots that swept through England. Trump's campaign also responded in a post on X, saying the EU "should mind their own business instead of trying to meddle in the U.S. Presidential election." Trump's appearance comes as Musk recently endorsed Trump following his assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month, posting the video of Trump in the aftermath of getting shot and writing "I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery." On the campaign trail this election, Trump too has repeatedly touted his close relationship with Musk, often praising him and calling himself a "fan" of the businessman. Trump's compliments of Musk often came as the former president railed against electric vehicles -- something that could be seen as problematic for Musk, the CEO of Tesla, a major player in the EV market. Trump, who often rails against electric vehicles even as he claims he supports all types of cars, said at a rally in Atlanta this month that he was "for electric cars." "I have to because Elon endorsed me very strongly, Elon. So, I have no choice," Trump said, as he complained about how expensive charging is for electric vehicles. On Jan. 8, 2021, Trump, who up to that point had been an avid user of then-Twitter, was "permanently suspended" from the platform "due to the risk of further incitement of violence" after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol two days prior. In its announcement suspending Trump's account, the social media platform cited Trump's posts from Jan. 6, 2021 - including "The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!" - saying such language "can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks." Trump's account was reinstated in November 2022 after Musk took over then-Twitter. Trump continues to remain mostly active on Truth Social -- except in August last year to fundraise off of his famous mugshot from Fulton County jail after being arraigned in the Georgia election interference case. Truth Social's stock value saw a rapid decline earlier on Monday as the former president returned to X to promote his interview with Musk. Truth Social's parent company has had a tumultuous past six months, with its stock value repeatedly going up and down by large margins -- making Monday's drop to $24.66 per stock from almost $27 per stock a week ago feel relatively miniscule. Truth Social's parent company also disclosed on Friday that the company had a $16 million loss for the quarter and revenue of just $836,000. Trump is subject to a "Social Media Exclusivity Term" - an ongoing agreement under which he has to post content first on Truth Social before any other social media platform -- except in certain circumstances, including for "politically-related" posts, which Trump is allowed to determine "in his sole discretion." "It was great that Elon bought it because now we have a voice," Trump said about Musk's takeover of Twitter, which was quickly renamed "X," during an interview with Fox Business earlier this month. "We had no voice on Twitter, no voice at all. Everything we put out, they put a flag on it -- no matter what you said, they put a flag on it." Since Musk's endorsement of Trump, Musk has defended the former president on X. There have also been cases where Musk has posted and amplified misinformation on X, including a post he reposted in January that falsely claimed a dependence on mail-in ballots would lead to a "rigged election." Recently, election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington told Musk that the social media platform's AI chatbot produced false information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden announced he was leaving the 2024 race. He also recently he shared an edited video of Vice President Kamala Harris that used artificial intelligence to mimic her voice. He later claimed the video was parody, permissible under X's rules. The incidents have stoked concern among some experts about the potential for Musk to wield X as a means of influencing public conversation about an election in which he holds a clear preference. During an interview last month, Musk said he created a political action committee named America PAC, which is now collecting voter information and running ads using clips from the assassination attempt on Trump. The conversation on X is also part of the Trump campaign's push to diversify Trump's voter coalition by participating in alternative media avenues. While Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have been crisscrossing the country visiting battleground states, the Trump campaign has had a slower public campaign schedule as they attempt to boost an online presence. Last week, Trump sat down with popular online streamer Adin Ross and his running mate. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance recently went on the Nelk Boys podcast. However, online streams on X have faced technical difficulties in the past, derailing conversations. Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis launched his presidential bid on X in a conversation with Musk and Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Sacks; however, the audio stream repeatedly crashed, pulling the focus away from DeSantis' announcement and onto the glitches. Musk, however, said in a post on X that he has spent the days leading up to Monday night's interview by performing "some system scaling tests" on the platform in order to gauge the streaming capability.

Trump, Musk talk assassination attempt, immigration, inflation in 'conversation' on X

Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Billionaire Elon Musk's more than 2-hour live conversation on his social-media platform X with former President Donald Trump on Monday night got off to a late start due to technical issues that Musk called a "massive DDOS attack," as Trump argued voters just "want to have the American dream back again." Nearly 45 minutes after it was scheduled to start, Trump blasted the Biden-Harris administration for immigration, inflation and the current unrest in the world, saying "nobody is better off now" than they were when he was president. Musk explained that while he supported former President Barack Obama and would call himself a "moderate Democrat," he added "we are at a critical junction for the country." "The Biden administration is not a moderate administration and we would see a further left administration with Kamala Harris," Musk said. "You are the path to prosperity and Kamala is not. That is my honest opinion. And we're in deep trouble if it goes the other way." During their talk, Trump argued with Musk over climate change, saying that while it is a concern and there is a place for electric cars, the world should be much more worried right now about nuclear war, which he called the "greatest immediate threat." Trump also warned Vice President Kamala Harris is a "radical left," who is campaigning like she is a moderate. "If she is elected, I don't think our country will survive." The Kamala Harris campaign released an email during the interview and accused Musk of allowing "hate speech and disinformation" on his platform, claiming the billionaire is a "lackey for Team MAGA." The interview, which was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. EDT, started experiencing technical problems before it even started Monday night. "There appears to be a massive DDOS attack on X," Musk wrote in a post on X at 8:20 p.m. "Working on shutting it down. Worst case, we will proceed with a smaller number of live listeners and post the conversation later." The live interview got underway at 8:42 p.m., with Musk speaking about what he billed as a "conversation" instead of an interview with the former president. "My use of the word conversation is deliberate," Musk said. "This is so that people understand how Donald Trump talks when it's a conversation, rather than an interview. Nobody is quite themselves in an interview, so it's hard to understand what they're really like." "So many millions of people. We are honored," Trump responded at the start. "Congratulations on breaking every record in the book tonight." Musk asked Trump about the assassination attempt, saying "your actions after the shooting were inspiring. The President of the United States represents America and that is strength under fire," Musk said, as he explained why he endorsed Trump. "I knew immediately that it was a bullet. I knew immediately that it was at the ear. I also heard people shout bullets, bullets, bullets," Trump said as he called it a "miracle" he survived. "We lost somebody who was great, Cory, a great firefighter," Trump added, saying they raised a lot of money for Cory's family and for the two who were injured in the shooting. Trump also commended the Secret Service sniper who killed the gunman. "Immediately recognized, and immediately took a shot. And it was one good shot from very far away," Trump said. "A lot more people could have been killed. I take my hat off to him." "There should have been nobody on the roof," Trump added, as he said he plans to return to Butler in Pennsylvania to finish the rally where he was so "rudely interrupted." Trump then moved on to talking about immigration and his administration's record with the border. "They have to come in legally. They have to be checked," Trump said about immigrants, as he turned his attack to Harris. "She doesn't have to say what I'm saying about what she would do, she could close the border right now," Trump said as he referenced Harris' "moderate campaign" promises. "They hired IRS agents and many of them were assigned to go after restaurant workers to go after their tips and now she's repeating my policy of 'no tax on tips.' These people are fake. They have the worst numbers on the border," Trump said about Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. Harris was "the border czar. It was in the headlines of all the newspapers. People can't allow them to get away with their disinformation campaign. She could have shut the border down by now," Trump said, adding that he will have "the largest deportation in the history of our country. We have to." Trump briefly touched on Biden's withdrawal from the presidential race, calling it a "coup" by those around him as he labeled Biden the "worst president. Israel attack would never have happened, Russia wouldn't have invaded Ukraine. We would also have no inflation, without Biden." Trump said during his administration he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin not to invade Ukraine and added it "did not happen," as Musk argued the president of the United States needs to be "intimidating" to keep world peace, to which Trump agreed. "It's all about the oil. If you buy oil from Iran, you're not going to do business with the United States. Iran had no money for Hamas, no money for Hezbollah and no money for any instruments of terror." "Four years ago, we were so respected and Israel would never have been attacked," Trump claimed, arguing it is not a problem to get along with all leaders in the world, including North Korea, Russia and Iran to keep the peace. "I always say we have enemies on the outside and enemies on the inside. We have some really bad people in our government. They are more dangerous than Russia and China," he added. "You can not let Russia and China align. Here we have a modern day axis of evil. The biggest threat is not climate change, the biggest threat right now is nuclear war." Trump shifted the discussion to the economy, saying "what Kamala and Biden let happen to the economy is terrible. Inflation is eating you alive. Energy started it. The cost of energy and gasoline, that has to come down in order to bring down inflation," Trump said. "The waste is incredible. Nobody negotiates prices." Musk called on Trump to form a government efficiency commission to prevent government overspending and make sure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, to which Trump agreed and asked Musk to serve. Trump blasted education in the United States, saying "we're ranked at the bottom," and "yet we spend more per pupil than any other country." "I want to close the Department of Education and move education back to the states," Trump said. "I would bet 35 states, which are really well run, would do an amazing job. And the others would be forced to do better And it would cost less than half than it does with it in Washington, D.C.," Trump added, "while there would still need to be some small oversight." Trump and Musk agreed for the need to achieve energy independence and solve government overspending to lower inflation. "We've got to get the prices down. When you look at some of the food products. They used to buy a whole cart and today, they can't buy as much." "We did more deregulation for businesses. We did radical cuts that have been put back by this administration. We had the best economy before COVID-19," Trump said. "The best years we ever had in business were the Trump years." Musk asked Trump about how he would have the United States move toward sustainability to slow climate change. "I've heard in terms of the fossil fuel, it takes a lot to create an electric car," Trump argued, as Musk continued to make his point about global warming. "I'm sort of waiting for you to come up with solar panels for the roofs of the cars. I'm sure you will be the first," Trump said. "People talk about global warming and climate change, but not nuclear warming. That's a more immediate threat." Musk moved the conversation to the Biden-Harris administration's use of "lawfare" in Trump's numerous indictments. "This does happen in Banana Republics, in Third World countries, not here," Trump said. "Here you fight for election integrity and you get indicted." "What Kamala has done to San Francisco and California, with crime, with cashless bail. Our country is becoming a dangerous place. She is a radical who is talking now like she is 'more Trump than Trump' to get elected," he said. "She's talking like she's tough on borders and it's a lie. Defunding the police. No fracking," Trump said. "Do you think Kamala could do this interview? It's pretty sad that someone can't answer a question when they're running for office." On Sunday, the SpaceX chief announced on X that he would interview Trump on Monday, and that it would to be live-streamed on his social media platform formerly known as Twitter. He also made a call-out for questions and comments after Trump teased about the interview on his preferred media platform, Truth Social. Earlier Monday, the European Union warned against "illegal content and disinformation" before what was expected to be a "major audience." The EU warned Musk in a letter against promoting "harmful content" and reminded him that X is subject to the EU's Digital Services Act, a new law that regulates illegal content and disinformation on large social media platforms. "With great audience comes greater responsibility," wrote Thierry Breton, the EU's commissioner for Internal Market, in a post on X as he reminded Musk that "formal proceedings are already ongoing against X under the DSA" for previous violations. Musk said Monday night he disagreed with other bloc's "censoring speech in the United States." Musk endorsed Trump's re-election bid shortly after July's attempted assassination at a campaign event in Butler, Pa. Since that time, Musk has leveled a series of attacks at Harris and Walz, as the Democratic National Convention approaches a week from now. For his part, Trump on Monday made an X post for the first time in nearly a year by sharing a campaign advertisement in a posting that saw 4.8 million views in less than an hour. It marked only the second time Trump had posted on the social media platform since his account was "permanently suspended" just days after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol. Musk was key in reinstating Trump's then-Twitter account after he authorized a public poll on the website following his $44 billion purchase of Twitter in 2022. A self-described "free speech absolutist" who has been criticized for a hands-off approach to censorship, Musk's actions have been viewed by some as attempts to interfere in U.S. elections in a way to promote more authoritarian-leaning views. As examples, critics point to his ban on journalists on X who openly questioned the billionaire and even his profane altering of how the company responds to press inquiries. Last year, he admitted that, since he took over the platform, it has seen a 50% drop in ad revenue and has carried a "heavy debt load." More recently, Musk was the recipient of a letter by the five secretaries of states who called on him to alter X's artificial intelligence chatbot, Grok, after it gave out false election information to users across the United States. That came after last year's October warning by the European Union to Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg over disinformation about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. That also was about the same time the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Musk in order to compel him to testify in a probe over his Twitter acquisition, which he agreed to do so later this year.