Elon Musk trzyma X – sukces biznesowy i polityczny

Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October 2022 and quickly rebranded the platform as X. Since then, as reported by The Guardian, he has redesigned the platform’s algorithm to boost his own tweets, which ignite public discourse. He likes to persuade his audience that „they are now the media.” Sometimes he writes something himself, but more often he shares other posts with a brief suggestion like „this is interesting” or an emoji. With his massive reach, he can elevate the profile of an anonymous post or a relatively unknown right-wing account on X by sharing it with his 210 million followers – that’s over five times the population of Canada, as pointed out by The Guardian. It’s worth noting that this is also over five times the population of Poland.

The platform has become a base for conservative narratives, regularly raising topics that dominate the right-wing discourse. Many of these topics have real political consequences. The British newspaper – whose leadership decided to withdraw from X in 2024 – points out that Musk often supports controversial issues, such as illegal immigration, that are marginalized by mainstream media.

An example could be Musk reviving the scandal of British gangs, mainly composed of men of Pakistani descent, exploiting young girls in England in the 1990s and 2000s. Musk called on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take action, which was met with applause from other influential figures, such as billionaire Bill Ackman. The Guardian notes that the story of „grooming gangs” from three decades ago is disturbing not because it is new – because it is not – but because many American and British X users had not heard of it before. And that’s enough to stir up a storm on social media.

The political activism of Musk often takes the form of rhetorical attacks on establishment figures. Although 2.7 million users left X after the recent US elections, the platform not only survived but also gained significance, focusing mainly on right-wing content. Recently, the billionaire endorsed the far-right party AfD in Germany and repeatedly attacked the British Labour Party.

Musk’s ideological proximity to right-wing populist parties around the world may prove beneficial for his business interests, as these movements continue to gain political power – concludes The Guardian.
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