ABC News’ recent election information project 538 Interactive has tracked the presidential electoral races since 2008, predicting respective probabilities of victory for each candidate by aggregating results from 1,000 outcome simulations. When it comes to the 2024 electoral vote, as of early November, it will be a tight race. According to a USA Today article, undecided votes are only 2-5% of the electorate, making each voter’s opinion and the news that informs it that much more pivotal. To ensure the smartest vote possible that prioritizes democracy, I urge readers to turn to trustworthy news sources such as the New York Times, NPR and the Wall Street Journal.
On the other hand, I urge readers to stay away from X.
Since acquiring the social media platform Twitter in 2022, billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has pushed the newly-named X in the far-right direction. However, it is not the political biases themselves that are problematic, but rather, the misinformation they support.
Musk’s two-year track record with running and moderating X has shown his tendency to conflate misinformation with free speech. When he first bought X, he claimed himself a “‘free speech absolutist.'” As a result, he promised to reverse the Twitter content and creator bans he deemed controversial responses to self-expression. Returnees that Musk has welcomed back to the platform include Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and radio host Alex Jones.
Green posted one such untrue claim in her Oct. 3 thread reading, “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done,” in reference to the conspiracy theory that government officials were able to control and cause Hurricane Helene. Five days later, Jones echoed the same idea, stating, “Treason Alert: The Biden/Harris Admin Have Benn in Control of Hurricanes Helene and Milton Using Pentagon Weather Weapons.” New York Times reporters found that these posts have over 72,000 likes and 34,000 shares combined.
As we near the presidential election, more right-wing figures have been taking to X to make known their idolatry of Donald Trump, even if it means parroting false claims such as these. Simultaneously, left-leaning figures and commentators have been leaving the platform, causing X to take on a newly politicized form. Even Musk, the company’s Executive Chair, has used the power of his platform to publicly endorse the former president. He posted a photo of himself at the Trump rally in Butler, PA jumping up and down while declaring, “I’m not just MAGA; I’m Dark MAGA.”
This political endorsement is consistent with his leniency towards accounts that amplify untrue election claims surrounding race and immigration. His role is also incendiary. New York Times technology reporter Kate Conger found “he regularly responds to and shares claims made by users [like Greene and Jones] tracked by The Times, elevating their posts to his 200 million followers,” proving that despite knowledge of the platform’s misinformation, he refuses to act in the name of free speech. It is no secret that Musk is a walking contradiction: He embraces right-wing misinformation with open arms and a pro-free-speech mentality, yet he uses this same mentality to shut down accounts that differ in their political views.
Given that X operates as a space of political news and discourse for over 250 million users a day, it is imperative that users recognize the dangerous content it promotes and prioritize the usage of credible news sources. The Center for Countering Digital Hate discovered X’s misleading election posts accrued 1.2 billion views in just six months. For the sake of our democracy, please don’t be one of them.
Unfortunately, Twitter has evolved from being a “‘global town square'” where anyone, regardless of politics, can express their views in a quick manner — X is now akin to a dystopia of political misinformation.
