American subtlety is still not there. Since the start of the American presidential campaign, the owner of the social network X, Elon Musk, has not hidden his total support for candidate and former president Donald Trump. It’s neither the first nor the only one, but this particular collaboration raises questions. That of the neutrality of an information tip. “Elon Musk has control over the X algorithm and puts forward candidate Trump without hiding it. This questions the functioning of democracy and freedom,” analyzes Nicole Bacharan, historian and political scientist, specialist in politics and American society and transatlantic relations.
“X is a war machine in the American presidential election. The campaign is extremely present on social networks,” she continues. On a daily basis, almost 100 million Americans browse X. “Like everywhere in the world, we get our information partly via these platforms,” admits the specialist.
For several months, whether we like it or not, Elon Musk has been flooding users’ news feeds with his own messages and those of Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter in 2021 before being “rehabilitated” following year. Fake news, promotion, opinion… everything goes. But concretely, does Elon Musk have the right? “Morally, no… legally yes. X is not a media but an information pipe, nothing prevents him from doing what he wants with it. And even if he was a media, American law could not prevent it. It protects personal data and children, but it does not prevent opinion media. We see this clearly with Fox News, for example”
Musk’s interest behind this campaign
The boss of a site as influential as X is therefore campaigning – financially and ideologically – for Donald Trump completely legally, protected by the owners’ freedom of expression. Quite simply by law. Behind these tweets, the interest of the SpaceX boss is not hidden. He who dreams of the Moon wants to extend his influence on Earth. “A billionaire who seeks, like everywhere in the world, his personal gain,” summarizes Nicole Bacharan. And for good reason, the candidate promised Elon Musk, in the event of victory, to entrust him with a commission to reform “the State in depth” and work on “governmental efficiency”… all while knowing the very particular managerial practices of the billionaire.
“He could be in charge of budgetary excesses, abuses, fraud and undue payments… he who receives money from the State for his companies. There would be a real conflict of interest which would suit Elon Musk,” deciphers the political scientist. The interests of one serve those of the other, one never being able to dream of the White House because of his country of birth, the other dependent on his patrons.
An ineffective strategy?
However, if Musk tries to influence the presidential campaign via Everyone is reinforced in their opinions, whether Elon Musk likes it or not.
“Despite the incredible events taking place during this campaign, nothing is moving. The two assassination attempts on Donald Trump, the abandonment of Joe Biden, the war in the Middle East… nothing helps, as if everything was already decided. » The political scientist admits it all the same: the influence of the boss of X can only be analyzed after the election, on November 5.