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Elon Musk has been accused of spreading misinformation about the 2024 presidential election by the White House, causing concern.
As the 2024 presidential election season is getting into full swing, the White House and the campaign team for President Joe Biden have alleged that Elon Musk is purposely sharing misinformation about the election on X, formerly Twitter, and preventing actual fact-checking. “It is profoundly irresponsible to spread false information and sow distrust about how our elections operate,” said Biden campaign manager, Julie Chávez Rodríguez, to the New York Times, adding: “It’s even more dangerous coming from the owner of a social media platform. We will continue to call out this recklessness as we carry out President Biden’s commitment to protecting our elections.”
The statement is the first direct accusation by the campaign, and it marks another point of contention between Musk and Biden. Musk has been openly contemptuous of President Biden after his Tesla electric vehicle company was excluded from White House events. Since his acquisition of X, the tech billionaire has implored those following him on the social media platform to vote Republican.
Harmeet K. Dhillon, a lawyer representing former President Donald Trump, said that the moves made X “a much better place for conservatives,” praising Musk. Musk has also dismantled X’s system for flagging fake election content, stating that it amounted to election interference in addition to amplifying false claims of undocumented immigrants voting in American elections.
The defiance by Musk is still present, even as advertisers have registered complaints that allowing such disinformation and content would further harm democracy in the nation. These same charges have been levied against X by the European Union, which filed a report late last year noting how in comparison to other social media platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, instances of election interference content were high on X.
Linda Yaccarino, the chief executive at X, has been steadily refuting Musk’s claims of removing the integrity team, pointing to the Community Notes feature and saying there will be expansion. Stephen Richer, the Maricopa County, Arizona county recorder, still has his concerns over Musk’s behavior. “Whether it’s President Trump or Mr. Musk talking about this and keeping it very much a top-of-mind issue, that can potentially make our lives more challenging,” he said.
