By Kanishka Singh and Sheila Dang
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – False or deceptive claims by billionaire Elon Musk concerning the U.S. election have amassed 2 billion views on social media platform X this 12 months, in accordance with a report by non-profit group Middle for Countering Digital Hate.
The platform can also be enjoying a central position in enabling the unfold of false details about the crucial battleground states that may possible decide the end result of the presidential race, election and misinformation specialists mentioned on Monday.
X didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Since taking up the corporate previously often known as Twitter, Musk has curtailed content material moderation and laid off 1000’s of staff. He has thrown his help behind former President Donald Trump, who’s locked in an exceptionally shut race in opposition to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
Musk’s large attain with practically 203 million followers helps allow “community results” wherein content material on X can leap to different social media and messaging platforms comparable to Reddit and Telegram, mentioned Kathleen Carley, a professor of pc science at Carnegie Mellon College and skilled on disinformation. “X is a conduit from one platform to a different,” she mentioned.
A minimum of 87 of Musk’s posts this 12 months have promoted claims concerning the U.S. election that fact-checkers have rated as false or deceptive, amassing 2 billion views, in accordance with the Middle for Countering Digital Hate’s report.
In Pennsylvania, one of many seven key swing states, some X customers have seized on situations of native election directors flagging incomplete voter registration varieties that will not be processed, falsely casting the occasions as examples of election interference, mentioned Philip Hensley-Robin, Pennsylvania government director at Widespread Trigger, throughout a press briefing on Monday.
Widespread Trigger is a nonpartisan group that promotes accountable authorities and voting rights.
Some X accounts implied “that there was voter fraud, when in actual fact, we all know very clearly that election officers and election directors in all of our counties had been following the foundations and … due to this fact solely eligible voters are voting,” Hensley-Robin mentioned.
Cyabra, a agency that makes use of AI to detect on-line disinformation, mentioned on Monday that an X account with 117,000 followers performed a key position in serving to unfold a faux video purporting to point out Pennsylvania mail-in ballots for Trump being destroyed.
