In a latest interview with Fox News, Musk stated that movies circulating on X years in the past depicting crowds of migrants sparked his fascination with right-wing politics and stronger border protections.
“I’ve seen movies of individuals streaming throughout the border on Twitter, now X,” he stated, citing politicized and generally deceptive movies which have unfold on-line about migrants. “And I used to be like, is that this actual?”
It was a stark instance of the ability X has to politicize its personal customers — together with the world’s richest man — utilizing hyper partisan opinions and far-right media.
To raised perceive how the knowledge that Musk consumes on X may form his worldview, The New York Occasions re-created a model of Musk’s private feed by opening a brand new account on X and following the identical 1,109 customers that he follows. We then analysed greater than 1,75,000 posts from the accounts that he follows, utilizing a service that collects information from X.
Although there isn’t a assure that Musk noticed all the posts captured by The New York Occasions, the accounts that he follows — together with world leaders and enterprise tycoons alongside conspiracy theorists and far-right influencers — reveal the voices that Musk seems to worth. (The “Following” feed is totally different from the principle “For You” feed, which incorporates posts from these he follows alongside others chosen by X’s algorithm.)
Uncover the tales of your curiosity
The ensuing feed revealed ample reward for Musk and his varied priorities, blended with a torrent of right-wing outrage over progressive politics. It highlights the ways in which social networks can create info bubbles. X declined to remark. These voices are largely right-wing: Amongst tens of hundreds of posts throughout a typical week, almost half of them got here from right-wing media figures, conservative influencers, Republican politicians or authorities leaders.
These accounts included Chaya Raichik, whose X account, Libs of TikTok, has greater than 4 million followers. Raichik’s appearances on Musk’s feed match her rising prominence offline: Her affect has exploded in the course of the second Trump administration, and she or he has appeared on the White Home a number of instances this yr, cementing her standing as a high Trump advocate.
The accounts that Musk follows are additionally those he interacts with most on X, based on the Occasions’ evaluation, giving them a precious increase on the platform since Musk is the positioning’s hottest person, with greater than 200 million followers.
That appears to provide his followers the ability to grab Musk’s consideration and will even redirect his coverage targets. It’s one thing they’ve observed, with some customers boasting they will catch Musk’s consideration with a well-timed submit or query.
“Fairly superb when the proprietor of a platform personally tells you he’s fixing your drawback in actual time,” Mario Nawfal, an influencer with greater than 2 million followers, posted after Musk stated he would repair a problem on X.
Among the concepts that circulated on Musk’s feed later emerged on the nationwide stage.
President Donald Trump had claimed at an deal with to Congress that federal funds have been used for “making mice transgender” — a deceptive description of assorted research that examined the impact of hormone remedy on HIV infections and different unwanted side effects of the remedy. The thought had gathered steam on X two months earlier, when a conservative-led animal advocacy group posted about it. The group’s account is adopted by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and by Musk, who had personally shared one of many posts.
Later, as Tesla automobiles and dealerships have been vandalized or attacked in a violent response to Musk, his feed was crammed with calls to cost the attackers with “home terrorism,” giving the perpetrators 20-year jail sentences.
Musk agreed, calling assaults on Tesla’s automobiles “excessive home terrorism!!” Days later, Trump repeated the concept, saying that he would take pleasure in seeing “the sick terrorist thugs get 20 yr jail sentences.”
After a right-wing information aggregator claimed, incorrectly, that DOGE had blocked a $52 million fee for the World Financial Discussion board, Musk replied: “True. You are welcome.” In actuality, ending this system had saved $7.8 million.
These inaccuracies haven’t stopped Musk from recommending the DOGE account to others — he steadily promotes the accounts he follows to his personal 219 million followers.
“Simply observe @DOGE for particulars,” Musk wrote in February. “There’s a firehouse of knowledge.”
What Musk sees
Musk’s Personal Feed
Musk’s private feed on X contains anti-transgender, anti-immigration and conspiratorial posts alongside excessive reward for Musk and Trump.
Musk as Topic
Musk is a well-liked subject himself on X. The posts that come up are full of individuals defending Musk from supposedly unfair assaults or supporting his worldview.
DOGE Propaganda
The content material on Musk’s feed is a mirror of his personal pursuits: As his position within the purported authorities cost-cutting grew, so did reward for these plans on X.