How Elon Musk Changed Course to Go All Out for Trump
The billionaire has poured nearly $120 million into a pro-Trump voting effort and used his social media platform, X, to spread misinformation, despite public statements he made in the past about political neutrality.
Two weeks after making a stunning $44 billion bid to buy Twitter in April 2022, Elon Musk began to lay out a vision for his ownership of the social network. The company’s management had become biased in favor of left-wing values, Mr. Musk argued, and he would stamp out political partisanship.
More than two years later, the network, now known as X, is anything but. Ahead of next week’s presidential election, the platform’s algorithmically curated feeds and trending topics have become overtly political, echoing the biases of Mr. Musk, the platform’s most followed account and one of former President Donald J. Trump’s most notable supporters. Mr. Musk’s posts are a stream of grievances, conspiracy theories and partisan misinformation.
The about-face is one of many Mr. Musk has undertaken in recent years as he has increasingly embraced Mr. Trump and his allies.
