Elon Musk shared a video in support of Donald Trump that appeared to include references to the extremist QAnon ideology and footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, which radicalized the movement the night before millions of American voters cast their ballots. voting on election day.
The billionaire owner of Musk has often appeared alongside the Republican candidate at campaign rallies while donating more than $118.5 million to his own pro-Trump group.
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The one-minute video, a mix of campaign footage and archival video set to audio of Donald Trump speaking, shows the letters “PATRIQTS” flashing on the screen and phrases used online by QAnon devotees.
QAnon is a vast set of false claims that have coalesced into an extremist ideology that has radicalized its followers. It has incited violence and criminal acts, and the FBI has classified it as a domestic terrorism threat. The movement centers on the belief that Trump is waging a secret crusade against a Satan-worshipping cabal of prominent figures who control the US government. Online, QAnon devotees previously parsed thousands of cryptic prophecies from someone known as Q, who claimed to be a top-secret government official but may have been merely an administrator of a fringe message board.
The video, which had been circulating online before Musk amplified it on the eve of Election Day, also included what appeared to be footage of the January 6, 2021, insurrection, when pro-Trump rioters besieged the US Capitol in support of his baseless claims that the 2020 elections were rigged.
According to X’s own statistics, the video had been viewed more than 23 million times in the early hours of election day. Since Musk took over the social media platform in 2022, he has bent the platform to his will, making algorithmic changes that mean users see his tweets first, even if they don’t choose to follow him. A Washington Post analysis found that right-wing tweeters are also more likely to go viral.
Musk has promoted far-right memes and false theories in the past, nodding to QAnon prophecies, even as some of his closest allies have said they doubt he believes some of the wilder things he says online.
The QAnon movement began on the fringes of the internet in 2017, and the following year its adherents were prominently present at Trump rallies. As its influence grew, it gained a foothold among certain members of the Republican base, culminating in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, which for many conspiracy theorists played out a QAnon fantasy of the faithful rising up in support of Trump.
Far-right activists and conspiracy theorists have spent the years since the last presidential election bolstering an online infrastructure to spread false claims of election fraud – an effort that Musk supported in the run-up to Election Day.
During that period, American voters have faced an avalanche of misleading claims about almost every aspect of their lives—from health care and education to immigration and the weather.
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