Musk and X are epicentre of US election misinformation, experts say

False or misleading claims by billionaire Elon Musk about the US election have amassed 2 billion views on social media platform X this year, according to a report by non-profit group Centre for Countering Digital Hate.

The platform is also playing a central role in enabling the spread of false information about the critical battleground states that will likely determine the outcome of the presidential race, election and misinformation experts said on Monday.

A spokesperson for X said the company's Community Notes feature, which lets users add additional context to posts, is more effective at helping people identify misleading content than traditional warning flags on posts.

Since taking over the company formerly known as Twitter, Musk has curtailed content moderation and laid off thousands of employees. He has thrown his support behind former President Donald Trump, who is locked in an exceptionally close race against Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

Musk’s massive reach with nearly 203 million followers helps enable “network effects” in which content on X can jump to other social media and messaging platforms such as Reddit and Telegram, said Kathleen Carley, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and expert on disinformation. “X is a conduit from one platform to another,” she said.

At least 87 of Musk's posts this year have promoted claims about the US election that fact-checkers have rated as false or misleading, amassing 2 billion views, according to the Centre for Countering Digital Hate's report.

X's spokesperson said the platform took action against many accounts that shared the video.