Multi-billionaires are eccentric. It's common knowledge that Joker: Folie à Deux is a terrible film, just as water is wet and fire is hot.
From Jeff Bezos to Peter Thiel to Richard Branson to Howard Hughes (adjusted for inflation), they're doing strange things: shooting themselves into space, investing in treatments to “cure” aging, buying islands, and washing their hands lots.
It is rare that the opposite 99.9% of us are directly subject to their whims of world ownership, at the same time as we not directly suffer the results of the carbon emissions of their rocket ships, self-serving super PACS and non-payment of taxes.
Elon Musk, nonetheless, is a unique story.
Since the owner of Tesla and Space I cite freedom of speech because this shouldn’t be the form of freedom of speech that individuals in dictatorships or theocracies fight and die for.
Musk's idea of ”freedom” is to amplify hate speech, sow misinformation, foment conspiracies, support nationalists in countries like India and Argentina, and comply with censorship demands from authoritarian regimes like Turkey's.
Screaming lies
As for our presidential race here at home, Musk's misleading election claims on X were viewed 1.2 billion times between January and July of this yr, based on the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
Then there are the creepy posts, just like the one directed at Taylor Swift after she supported Kamala Harris on Instagram and signed off as “Childless Cat Lady.” “Fine, Taylor…you win,” Musk wrote on X last month. “I'll give you a child and protect your cats with my life.” Gross.
Musk recently amplified false claims and conspiracy theories that Federal Emergency Management Agency officials were “actively blocking” aid shipments to victims of Hurricane Helene, “seizing goods … and locking them up to claim they were their own.”
Musk also spread the politically motivated MAGA lie that FEMA was wanting funds since it spent an excessive amount of on undocumented immigrants. He accused the agency of “treason” and falsely wrote that the agency “used up its budget bringing illegals into the country instead of saving American lives.” So much for helping our fellow Americans in times of need.
Instead, the world's richest man used his megaphone to deceive disaster victims and tell them that help was not on the way in which. The false information was consistent with election propaganda favoring the Trump campaign.
dictate policy
Musk's penchant for aligning himself with the chaos monkeys on the far right would still be unlucky, but far less harmful, if his tendencies didn't also dictate policies for the nearly 200 million every day X users worldwide.
Since Musk bought Twitter, he has made it harder to discover trustworthy accounts by selling the blue “verified” checkmark as an alternative of checking users to see in the event that they are who they are saying they’re.
X then began sharing promoting revenue with its “premium” users, allowing users to be paid by advertisers for his or her engagement. And guess which posts get probably the most attention? Sensational made-up news, troll attacks and hateful racist/sexist/homophobic rhetoric.
He also restored previously suspended accounts, resembling those of skilled misogynist Andrew Tate, rapper Kanye West, who was banned from the platform for his anti-Semitic rants, and Donald Trump.
Before Musk, when X was still Twitter, the social media platform was also known as a “global town square.” It was a spot to compensate for the newest in a fast-moving news cycle, and plenty of media outlets used the platform to interrupt breaking news or spread their work, as Twitter was often faster than news platforms and gave their stories more exposure .
If X is a city square, it would be overrun by a right-wing mob marching uncontrollably through otherwise crowded streets. And Musk is their jubilant benefactor.
Earlier this week, Musk explained that the super PAC he created is offering $47 to anyone who registers as a swing state voter and signs a petition supporting the first and 2nd Amendments. “Easy money!” he posted.
Musk appeared at Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last weekend wearing a black MAGA hat and declared: “I'm not just MAGA; I am Dark MAGA.” It was a reference to a “Terminator” meme adopted by the far right. He then encouraged people to vote, saying in the event that they don't, “this will be the last election.”
Musk also wore an undersized T-shirt that read “Occupy Mars” and started jumping up and down – posting countless memes – to indicate his enthusiasm for the person he’s supporting within the election. It was awkward to say the least.
Even Trump looked annoyed.
Originally published:
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