Election officials are fighting back as Elon Musk continues to actively share conspiracy theories and misinformation about the election on X.
But even as they speak out against Musk, who has owned X since 2022, they are being drowned out by platforms that seemingly support falsehoods.
Corrections to Musk’s lies come from election officials like Michigan County Clerk Barb Bynum, who regularly uses her account with 25,000 followers to share accurate information about how elections work. , which often receives far less reaction on the platform.
From the first female president since 1933 to the first vice president with a beard. No matter who wins, America will go to the polls this November and history will be made.
“My microphone is much smaller than the owner of Twitter, but I still use my platform to push out misinformation and disinformation, especially when it comes to election administration and election integrity,” Bynum said in an interview with NBC News. I have to correct the information.” .
In three cases last month, Musk’s posts highlighting election misinformation were viewed 200 times more than fact-checking posts correcting claims published by government officials and accounts on X.
Mr. Musk frequently promotes false claims about voting in the United States and rarely offers corrections when he is caught sharing them. According to X’s metrics, the false claims he posted this month routinely receive tens of millions of views, while rebuttals from election officials typically only receive tens or hundreds of thousands of views.
Musk announced his full support for Donald Trump’s presidential bid in July, but has faced at least 11 lawsuits and regulatory battles related to his various companies under the Biden administration. are.
Earlier this week, Musk breathed new life into a false election conspiracy theory. They say Michigan has more registered voters than voting-age adults, indicating massive fraud in the battleground state.
Bynum posted an explanation. Federal law requires states to keep voters on their voter rolls until they have missed two elections. Inactive voters will not receive a ballot.
Musk’s post has been viewed 32.2 million times. Bynum’s most widely viewed post on the subject was 63,000. A community note (a feature that allows certain X users to vote and add context to posts) was later added to Musk’s statement, which included the details Bynum highlighted. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson also spoke out about Musk’s tweet, which made national news and was viewed 33 million times. But the amount of attention Benson has received is unusual among officials who have sought to counter Mr. Musk’s misinformation.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in Washington, DC, on September 11 (Bonnie Cash/Getty Images (File))
Musk’s posts are almost inevitable on X. He has 202.2 million followers, the most followers on the platform. According to reports from tech news site Platformer and Musk’s takeover book Character Limit, after taking over the site, Musk told engineers to post his posts in the feeds of people who didn’t follow him. He ordered that it be displayed more frequently. Twitter article by New York Times reporters Kate Conger and Ryan Mack. (NBC News has not independently confirmed that report.)
On Tuesday, Musk made claims that a homeless shelter in Philadelphia that serves as a stipend destination for 5,200 people is spearheading an effort to “harvest” ballots on behalf of “transient residents.” Shared. Musk’s post does not mention the fact that Americans are not legally required to own a home for voting purposes and can use shelters to register.
Republican Philadelphia City Commissioner Seth Bluestein corrected Musk’s statement, saying that not everyone receiving benefits at a shelter is using their benefits to register at that address and that 2020 Fewer than 150 ballots were mailed to shelters.
Bluestein’s tweet had 15,400 views, while Musk’s had 16.2 million views.
“Whether you have 200 million followers or just one, everyone should be thoughtful about what they’re sharing and don’t post or reshare inaccurate information,” Bluestein told NBC News. It’s important to know the facts beforehand.”
Mr. Musk has a habit of making and sharing false claims to emphasize his support for Mr. Trump — who has also promoted false claims of a voter fraud conspiracy for most of his political career. Ta–. On Tuesday, he shared a fake cover story for The Atlantic magazine with the headline, “Donald Trump is literally Hitler.” Last week, he spoke at a Pennsylvania rally to debunk claims that he had falsely claimed that Dominion voting machines were part of a plot to rig the last U.S. election and were used in Philadelphia. suggested support.
He also frequently posts supporting false claims that non-citizens are systematically voting in U.S. elections, which could challenge the election results if Kamala Harris wins the presidency. This is a conspiracy theory elaborated by conservative groups in order to build a legal basis for their advocacy.
On October 6, Musk shared claims by election conspiracy theorists that Henrico County, Virginia, was riddled with fraud in 2020. That’s because turnout in some precincts in the county appeared to exceed the number of registered voters.
The next day, Henrico County’s official account explained the discrepancy. Virginia law requires counties to allow voters the option of in-person absentee voting, which does not track which precinct a voter comes from and does not track which precinct the voter is from. The aggregation is inaccurate. The county’s cumulative voter count is accurate: 77.% of registered voters in the county voted that year.
Musk’s post has been viewed 26.7 million times. County corrections received 102,000 cases.
He is a member of the OSET Institute, a nonprofit organization aimed at promoting public trust in elections, and is the former head of Twitter’s Civic Integrity team before Musk bought the site and fired its employees. Eddie Perez told NBC News that Musk’s approach is either: By accident or design, they instructed people to trust election conspiracy theorists more than their administrators.
“He’s saying, at least implicitly, don’t trust the people running the elections, trust me, trust x.com, trust Donald Trump. I’ll give you real information. And I actually think that’s the most insidious thing that’s going on here,” Perez said.
“You’re constantly building up a kind of armor against rationality and fact-checking and the idea that you can trust election officials and responsible media,” he said.
This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News:
