There are a lot of wild things happening on X lately.
Many are occurring in the so-called "Election Integrity Community," a feed run by Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC, which I've been reporting on since it launched last month. The feed started as a place to "share potential incidents of voter fraud or irregularities you see while voting in the 2024 election," and it has lived up to its promise: It has been a hotbed of election-related conspiracy theories, including on Election Day last week, when misinformation and conspiracy theories abounded without fact-checks. But since Trump won reelection, users have turned their attention to sowing paranoia about other races.
One is the Senate race in Arizona, where Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego seems on track to emerge victorious over Republican candidate Kari Lake, based on 94 percent of votes counted thus far. (The Associated Press has yet to call the race.) In the "Election Integrity Community," there's only one explanation for how a Democratic candidate could possibly win a state Trump won: voter fraud. (Never mind the realities of split-ticket voting and Lake having long polled poorly in the race.) Unsurprisingly, fact-checks, again, appear nowhere to be found.
It may be tempting to dismiss these as the meaningless ramblings of a paranoid corner of the internet, but it's worth remembering that this is the social media company belonging to a billionaire who now has Trump's ear and is trying to convince the public that his platform—conspiracy theories and all—can help replace traditional news outlets. What's happening in the "Election Integrity Community" is a reflection of what's happening in America at large: The GOP is dominating, trust in institutions is eroding, and facts are missing. It's Musk's world now—online and off.
—Julianne McShane
P.S. This weekend's episode of Reveal is about what happened when a young mom who reported her sexual assault to police went from being a victim to a suspect in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It's part of the reporting my colleague Rachel de Leon did for the Emmy-winning documentary Victim/Suspect, streaming on Netflix. Check out the episode wherever you get your podcasts.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.