Elon Musk Campaigns For Trump—X Still A Platform And Not A Publisher?

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has been quite active on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, since he bought it two years ago. The vast majority of his posts in recent months have been in support of former President Donald Trump in advance of Election Day.

Musk is hardly alone in throwing his support to a candidate, and plenty of celebrities—from Hulk Hogan to Taylor Swift—have made their opinion loud and clear on social media. However, questions are being raised as to whether X should still be seen as a “platform” and not a “publisher” if its owner is offering micro-sized endorsements on a near-constant basis.

“This is one key part of that ongoing debate, is X a news publisher or are they digital platforms,” said Scott Talan, senior professorial lecturer of public communication at American University. “There are less restrictions on platforms.”

The issue could be complicated by the fact that Musk has pushed X as a news provider of citizen journalists, putting into question whether it really should be seen as a platform. Then there is the fact that he has been campaigning with Trump.

“X is basically part of the Trump campaign now and likely there are a whole host of campaign disclosure rules that are being bypassed as a result,” suggested technology industry analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group.

“Musk is one of those folks that believes that he is rich enough, so the rules don’t apply to him and generally that’ll work until he takes that step too far, he has taken a lot of steps over the line and, I expect, it is only a matter of time before those chickens come home to roost,” Enderle added. “From my perspective, X stopped being a social media platform when Musk bought it and instead it has become a poorly managed marketing and influence platform supporting Musk’s personal interests.”

There is also the counterargument that users don’t have to stay on the site.

“There is some merit when people say, ‘Musk bought X, he owns it and can do what he wants,” said Talan. “However, Musk tries to bill X as the place for truth, but we’ve seen it is now filled with many untruths.”

Game Theory

The issue is complicated by the fact that those on X likely see Musk’s posts with almost disturbing regularity. Unless users of X specifically block Musk—a feature he has said might be removed—it is fairly difficult not to see his posts, even if users don’t actively “follow” him.

“He has gamed his own site to favor his posts,” explained Talan. “The algorithms are set so that his voice is heard on his platform.”

The question is whether that should be seen as a concern, given the reach that X continues to have as more Americans turn to social media as their primary source of news and information.

“It’s no longer a concern; it’s a reality,” warned Jason Mollica, lecturer in the School of Communications Studies at James Madison University. “Musk, the self-proclaimed ‘free-speech absolutist,’ has, in the past, posted and shared misinformation. The social network formerly known as Twitter is a far cry from what it was before Musk. And even with the platform losing money; he appears more interested in using X to advance his ideologies. That’s not going to stop anytime soon.”

The New Billionaires Boys Club?

Musk infamously paid $44 billion to buy Twitter, but he’s hardly the first individual with very deep pockets who has spent billions to essentially acquire a private soapbox. However, it might be fair to suggest Musk overpaid—at least based on past deals.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos paid just $250 million for The Washington Post in 2013, while Marc Benioff and his wife paid $190 million for Time magazine.

“We see it isn’t cheap to reach a lot of people, at least when it comes to buying a media company,” Talan continued.

Moreover, Musk bought the audience—notably so as he changed the name. So why didn’t he simply launch a new service? The answer to that may be clear.

“Truth Social has largely been a failure,” said Talan. “So Musk could have started a service, and named it X.com, but that wouldn’t guarantee a success. Then again, who have thought a social media site from China would have become so popular, and now under such scrutiny.”