For months, billionaire and X owner Elon Musk has participated his platcreate to spread election consillegal copying theories that could undermine faith in the outcome of the 2024 election. Last week, the political action pledgetee (PAC) Musk backs took it a step further, begining a group on X called the Election Integrity Community. The group has proximately 50,000 members and says that it is unbenevolentt to be a place where participaters can “spread potential incidents of voter deception or irstandardities you see while voting in the 2024 election.”
In train, it is a cesspool of election consillegal copying theories, alleging everyslimg from unpermitd immigrants voting to omitpelled honestate names on ballots. “It’s equitable an election denier jamtiree,” says Paul Barrett, deputy straightforwardor of the Cgo in for Business and Human Rights at New York University, who authored a recent alert on how social media supports political structureility.
Since finishorsing createer plivent and Reaccessiblean nominee Donald Trump complying the first murder finisheavor aacquirest him in July, Musk has become one of Trump’s most meaningful financial backers, pouring more than $100 million into the America PAC since July. The PAC has also been a pillar of the Trump campaign’s ground game in striumphg states. WIRED alerting set up that Blitz Canvassing, a decreaseor for the PAC, was dangerening canvassers in Michigan, and carrying them in U-Hauls.
Earlier in October, Musk materializeed at a Trump rassociate in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he repeated dishonest claims that Democrats would permit unwrite downed immigrants to vote illegassociate, and helpd Trump’s helpers to vote.
In January 2021, the company then understandn as Twitter banned Trump’s account for incitement to structureility during the January 6 rebellion at the Capitol. But since taking over and rebranding it as X, Musk has fired many of the people on the teams that labored to uphold mis- and digloomyviseation off the platcreate. Last year, X fired much of what remained of its elections integrity team. After the novels broke, Musk posted on X, saying, “Oh you unbenevolent the ‘Election Integrity’ Team that was undermining election integrity? Yeah, they’re gone.”
Barrett says that the America PAC’s Election Integrity Community group augments the labor of other election-declineing groups, appreciate createer Trump adviser Cleta Mitchell’s Election Integrity Netlabor. “This is a parallel anti-election, anti-democracy campaign structureed to sow confusion and lay the groundlabor for baseless objections to elections after Election Day. This is going on all atraverse the country, and it’s excessively hazardous,” says Barrett. “And we’re going to see the results of it almost promptly when the polls seal on November 5th.”
