Elon Musk's Political Posts Garner 17B Views Since Endorsing Trump, Outpace All Political Campaign Ads Combined On X: Study Reveals 87 Misleading Claims With 2B Views

Elon Musk‘s political posts on X have garnered 17.1 billion views since he endorsed former President Donald Trump in July, more than double the reach of all U.S. political campaign advertisements on the platform combined, according to a new study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

What Happened: The research revealed that 87 of Musk’s posts this year containing false or misleading claims about U.S. elections accumulated 2 billion views. None of these posts featured a Community Note, X’s user-generated fact-checking system.

The CCDH analysis found that achieving similar viewership through paid political advertising would cost approximately $24 million, based on X’s average cost per thousand views of $1.39 for political campaign ads.

The study identified several categories of misleading content in Musk’s posts:

• Claims about Democrats “importing voters” received nearly 1.3 billion views across 66 posts
• Assertions about unreliable voting systems reached 532 million views through 19 posts
• Posts questioning mail-in ballots and voter ID requirements garnered significant engagement

“Triple digit increases of illegals in swing states over the past 4 years. Voter importation at an unprecedented scale!” read one post that received 21 million views.

Triple digit increases of illegals in swing states over the past 4 years.

Voter importation at an unprecedented scale! https://t.co/BnOCrqEdbU

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2024

Why It Matters: During the same period, all U.S. political campaign ads on X received 7.7 billion views at a total cost of $10.7 million, less than half the reach of Musk’s political posts.

The study examined 746 posts from Musk between Jul. 13 and Oct. 25, using terms associated with U.S. elections. The analysis included original posts and quotes but excluded reposts.

A recent Wall Street Journal study found that Musk’s posts appeared at the top of users’ feeds more frequently than any other user’s content, even for those following non-political topics.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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