As the flames have engulfed much of Los Angeles, Elon Musk has flooded his 212 million followers with posts blaming the fires on Democrats and diversity policies, reinforcing the narratives that have spread among far-right activists and Republicans leaders, including the American president. elect Donald Trump.
Musk has posted or commented on more than 80 messages about the fire, many of which blamed liberal policies, in some cases based on false claims or racist ideas, according to a Washington Post analysis.
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He downplayed the role of climate change and placed blame on individual female firefighters of color and lesbian firefighters, including posting their names and faces. He promoted an hour-long propaganda video by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, in which he claimed the fires were “part of a larger global plot” to cause the collapse of the United States; Musk simply replied: “True.” And he repeatedly amplified claims that the Los Angeles Fire Department’s investments in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs cost lives by wasting money that could have been spent on disaster relief, suggesting the destruction could have been mitigated if there had been more white men. retain.
“DEI means people DIE,” Musk said on X. (The Los Angeles Fire Department did not return a request for comment.)
Musk’s use of It also shows how the billionaire, who holds no official office but is a close adviser to the president-elect, can use his unprecedented online reach to strengthen the new government.
Musk has used prominent natural disasters and other news events to promote partisan disinformation. Last year, he responded to Boeing’s safety issues and cybersecurity company CrowdStrike’s massive global technology failure by bashing the companies’ DEI initiatives. He helped fuel right-wing conspiracy theories that complicated rescue efforts when the remnants of Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina.
State officials in California say they are struggling to combat Musk’s ability to cause chaos in a rapidly evolving crisis. Brandon Richards, who is leading Gov. Gavin Newsom’s rapid communications efforts, said accounts like Musk’s make it harder to manage disaster response. If major accounts get involved, it’s a “completely different story” and disinformation can quickly snowball, he added.
“You’re not just fighting a false narrative,” he said. “You’re fighting a false narrative on several major accounts and then all the people regurgitating their content.”
When prominent accounts like Musk’s spread false or divisive stories about the state’s response, it can make it difficult for affected people to find reliable information.
“If people don’t trust their government, but the government says you’re in an evacuation zone and people need to evacuate, people may not do it, or they may do it too late,” Richards said.
Musk and X did not respond to a request for comment.
X, formerly Twitter, has long been a center for breaking news about disasters — and just as long a center for viral hoaxes and baseless claims about them. In 2012, photoshopped images of sharks swimming across flooded highways mixed with citizen journalism and mainstream news articles about Hurricane Sandy.
In the years before Musk bought the company, it had worked to elevate reputable sources and counter falsehoods, hiring a team of former journalists to curate its “trending” section. Government agencies came to rely on it as a tool to reach the media and public with real-time updates on crises such as Hurricane Ian in 2022.
But since Musk’s purchase of the site in 2022, X has transformed. The company has scaled back most of its trust and safety team, replaced professional fact-checking with crowdsourced “Community Notes,” and demoted posts linking to news articles while elevating those from conservative and right-wing influencers who pay for blue verification ticks . once reserved mainly for public figures and the press.
With more than 200 million followers and a habit of posting 24 hours a day, Musk has the loudest online megaphone in American politics. A recent Post analysis found that his online reach far exceeds that of the accounts of major political figures, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris — and even Trump.
X’s user base is much smaller than some other social media sites, such as Facebook, but has long had a major influence on breaking news and politics. Musk’s new role as one of Trump’s closest advisers has increased the weight of what he says on the platform. Musk is now posting far more about politics than in the past: Nearly 40 percent of his posts in October and November focused on electoral politics, according to The Post’s analysis, a sharp increase from previous months.
Although the majority of his posts on Since Trump’s re-election – Musk donated at least $277 million to the campaign – the billionaire entrepreneur has sparked a huge political battle by pressuring Congress to scrap a compromise bill; riled the president-elect’s advisers by criticizing a Cabinet pick in front of his millions of followers; and clashed with far-right activists over H-1B visas.
Musk has also become increasingly vocal at a series of national news events, sometimes spreading false information to millions of people.
During the presidential election, Musk pushed the conspiracy theory that because Michigan registered more voters than it has voting adults, it indicated massive fraud in the swing state, a claim that was viewed 32 million times. The claim was debunked by state election officials, who said federal law requires the state to keep voters on the rolls until they have missed two elections.
Musk claimed after Hurricane Helene that private relief flights to North Carolina were blocked by the Federal Aviation Administration, a claim refuted by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
On Thursday afternoon, the wildfires in Southern California topped X’s trending “news” tab, with a post from Musk appearing first when users clicked on it. Of the four top posts, including Musk’s, three came from conservatives who blamed Democrats for the destruction. In a post on
Many of Musk’s messages echoed themes that were gaining traction among Trump and far-right activists. The president-elect accused Newsom of failing to control the fires. Musk joined in on Thursday, saying: “A new government is needed for California.” In response to a post about the Los Angeles Fire Department by TikTok’s right-wing X-account Libs, Musk said the department had “prioritized DEI over saving lives and homes.”
Social media experts say the discourse about X surrounding the Palisades Fire contrasts with that surrounding previous catastrophic events.
“X used to be the go-to place for accurate information in an emergency,” says Renée DiResta, a research professor at Georgetown University who studies online influence. “But changes in the way the platform curates content and the increasing prevalence of economically motivated rants have made it far less useful for that.”
But even as That’s partly due to the retreat from news and politics by rivals Meta and TikTok and the declining influence of mainstream media. So if the discourse about
“For many people who are generally disconnected from social or public events, this is the moment when they tune in to these major crises,” Frances-Wright said. “So the way these events are framed, especially when they are framed around the broader failings of politicians or political parties, can really shape people’s view of the country in the longer term.”
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Faiz Siddiqui contributed to this report.
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