Misleading or false claims about the US elections made by Elon Musk have garnered nearly 1.2 billion views on X, a recent analysis has revealed.
A report published by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) on August 8 has given comprehensive details of the the tech billionaire Elon Musk’s posts that were shared by without any fact checks and had carried ‘disinformation’ related to the upcoming US elections.
Notably, none of these posts included a Community Note—a fact-checking feature on the platform that Musk has previously endorsed as an effective means to counter misinformation.
Researchers reviewed Musk’s posts from January 1 to July 31, identifying 50 instances where independent fact-checkers have debunked his claims.
Musk’s misleading posts about the elections fall into three main categories:
Claims of Democrats “importing voters”: These posts, which have accumulated 747 million views, allege that Democrats are facilitating illegal immigration to enhance their voter base. Examples include:
“The Dem Party goal is to import voters” (51.4 million views)
“The goal all along has been to import as many illegal voters as possible” (45.7 million views)
“Dems won’t deport, because every illegal is a highly likely vote at some point” (40.6 million views)
“Biden’s strategy is to import as many illegals as possible and legalize them to create a one-party state” (48.9 million views)
Fact-checkers have dismissed these claims as baseless, noting that it takes years for immigrants to obtain voting rights, and non-citizens risk deportation if they vote.
Claims about election fraud: Musk’s assertions that mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines are susceptible to fraud have attracted 288 million views. His claims include:
“In the USA, you don’t need ID to vote and can mail in your ballot. This is insane” (60.2 million views)
“Mail-in and drop box ballots should not be allowed as they make proving fraud almost impossible” (53.7 million views)
“Widespread mail-in voting makes proving fraud almost impossible” (138,000 views)
Experts counter that voter fraud related to mail-in ballots is exceedingly rare, and voting equipment undergoes rigorous security testing.
AI-generated video of Kamala Harris: Musk shared a manipulated AI video of Kamala Harris that received 133 million views without a warning label.
This video breaches X’s own policy against sharing misleading media.
Overall, Musk’s posts have been widely discredited by fact-checkers and experts, underscoring the significant spread of misinformation across social media platforms.
