Musk, X, and Trump 2024: Where are the Legal and Ethical Boundaries?

[Nostra]

Don't be stupid be a smarty,
Come and join the Musk=Nazi Party.

 

[Nostra]

No. He's amplifying the posts of Nazis.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Musk, who posts on a platform where misinformation is the norm, has 200M followers. Have you checked CNN's ratings lately? Besides, there's a difference between a cable station like CNN that adheres to journalistic standards but has a liberal bias, and social media platforms where anything goes.

The world has never seen anything like the troika of social media, cable news, and internet sites blaring the same message. That being, trump is your savior.

CNN has NO journalistic standards which is why they have no viewers.

 

[Billiejeens]

There are none.

Very encouraging.

 

[Billiejeens]

The wealthy libs at Warner Brothers Discovery use CNN to promote leftardism, and have done so for decades.

You had no problem with that.

CNN
MSNBC
PBS - NPR
Fakebook
The New Times
The Washington Post
ETC
ETC
ETC

 

[Billiejeens]

It's just amazing how many times you folks fall back on the same specious examples. Those officials stated in their letter they did not have proof of Russia's involvement. Only that their experience told them it is the kind of thing Russia engages in. Like giving Wikileaks the hacked material Roger Stone had them leak right after the release of the Access Hollywood tape.

They knew that they were lying
They were specifically recruited to lie.

 

[Hollie]

It is allowed. It's all over the place. The problem being when you morons conflate speech with lies and disinformation that fails standard fact checks while posing a danger to the country.
trump wasn't arbitrarily removed from Twitter. He was removed for repeated violations of platform policy. Like the glorification of violence. What did Musk do after he bought the platform? He restored trump's account, allowing him to go back to glorifying violence along with fascists who do the same.

As frantic, sweaty tirades go, yours are the among the most frantic and sweaty.

Go clean up.

 

[Hollie]

It is allowed. It's all over the place. The problem being when you morons conflate speech with lies and disinformation that fails standard fact checks while posing a danger to the country.
trump wasn't arbitrarily removed from Twitter. He was removed for repeated violations of platform policy. Like the glorification of violence. What did Musk do after he bought the platform? He restored trump's account, allowing him to go back to glorifying violence along with fascists who do the same.

I see. You’re still suffering from hurt feelings because your hero,

Nina Jankowicz was expelled from the collection of thinking humans. ​

If you ask nicely, she will sing a lullaby for you.

 

[berg80]

CNN has NO journalistic standards which is why they have no viewers.

CNN's ratings are poor compared to Faux because they aren't in the business of performative infotainment. Faux has convinced the rubes it is THE place to go for the truth. So when the rubes get lied to 24/7 they don't realize they are being misinformed.

But this thread isn't about CNN. It's about the largest social media platforms spewing trumpist propaganda, the legality and ethics of it, and the affect that has on the public.

 

[Hollie]

CNN's ratings are poor compared to Faux because they aren't in the business of performative infotainment. Faux has convinced the rubes it is THE place to go for the truth. So when the rubes get lied to 24/7 they don't realize they are being misinformed.

But this thread isn't about CNN. It's about the largest social media platforms spewing trumpist propaganda, the legality and ethics of it, and the affect that has on the public.

Uh oh. Someone is suffering from hurt feelings because the leftist lamestream media is regarded as exactly that, the politburo mouthpieces for the retrograde left.

Cheer up, Chuckles. MSDNC and CNN will always be also-rans full of goofy teleprompter readers who will parrot the leftist narrative no matter how buffoonish they are.

 

[SeaMajor7]

Stalinberg and the rest of the demented LEFT are completely DESPERATE to control The Narrative .
Too bad they lost all credibility, and Twitter(X)......
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[EvilCat Breath]

CNN's ratings are poor compared to Faux because they aren't in the business of performative infotainment. Faux has convinced the rubes it is THE place to go for the truth. So when the rubes get lied to 24/7 they don't realize they are being misinformed.

But this thread isn't about CNN. It's about the largest social media platforms spewing trumpist propaganda, the legality and ethics of it, and the affect that has on the public.

No more affect than leftist propaganda.

 

[berg80]

No more affect than leftist propaganda.

And yet a manifestly unfit man won the presidency despite a litany of criminal indictments, a criminal conviction, serial sexual abuse, pathological lying, overt bigotry, ...............................

 

[EvilCat Breath]

And yet a manifestly unfit man won the presidency despite a litany of criminal indictments, a criminal conviction, serial sexual abuse, pathological lying, overt bigotry, ...............................

He was elected because the majority of voters didn't believe those charges were anything more than democrat propaganda and rigged courts with zealot judges.

 

[Hollie]

And yet a manifestly unfit man won the presidency despite a litany of criminal indictments, a criminal conviction, serial sexual abuse, pathological lying, overt bigotry, ...............................

Yet. a manifestly angry leftist is perfectly fine with amoral leftist candidates.

 

[SeaMajor7]

And yet a manifestly unfit man won the presidency despite a litany of criminal indictments, a criminal conviction, serial sexual abuse, pathological lying, overt bigotry, ...............................

Cool NARRATIVE, Stalinberg.
All that BULLSHIT says more about YOU and the rest of the demented LEFT than it does about Trump.
That you are too stupid and full of hate to see that is all on you, dummy.

 

[Mac1958]

This is an oligarchy now. We're in it. Now.

That doesn't mean the oligarchs actually want it. But the alternative is too costly.

 

[Billiejeens]

And yet a manifestly unfit man won the presidency despite a litany of criminal indictments, a criminal conviction, serial sexual abuse, pathological lying, overt bigotry, ...............................

None of that is real

It was all manufactured for propaganda means

 

[Independent thinker]

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is actively using X (formerly Twitter), the social media platform he bought in 2022, to promote his far-right political interests. Vittoria Elliott at WIRED writes that Musk has made the platform “his own personal political bullhorn.” Tech journalist Casey Newton says that X is now “just a political project.”

Even before his endorsement of former President Donald Trump in July, Musk had already changed X in substantial ways that favor MAGA politics and personalities. He restored accounts of far-right figures such as white nationalist Nick Fuentes and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, relaxed content moderation policies, and disposed of much of the company’s trust and safety and election integrity teams.

But after the endorsement, Musk’s efforts on behalf of the Trump campaign appeared to surge. He launched a political action committee dedicated to Trump’s reelection. He hosted a livestream with the former president, whom Musk coaxed back onto the platform after he was previously banned for incitement to violence after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S, Capitol. According to The New York Times, Musk “hired a Republican operative with expertise in field organizing” to help direct his political activities. And according to Trump, Musk has agreed to head a “government efficiency” task force that aims to make “recommendations for drastic reforms” across the entire federal government should Trump win a second term. All the while, Musk continues to promote his preferred brand of politics through posts on his own account, which has close to 200 million followers (and frequently appears in users’ feed as recommended content whether they follow him or not).

While it may be jarring for users and others who hoped the platform might not succumb so completely to the interests of its singular owner, it is Musk’s prerogative to shape X to his tastes. No social media platform is truly politically neutral. And it is not a novel circumstance that the singular owner of a platform has such extraordinary influence over its operations, policies, and political decisions. But Musk’s use of X to try to influence the 2024 U.S. election is the most extreme example to date of a person in his position using a major social media platform for a specific political outcome. It is so blatant and outside the norm, it can be considered a class of its own.

Musk, X, and Trump 2024: Where are the Legal and Ethical Boundaries?

The limits and ability of social media companies to influence the outcome of elections.

www.justsecurity.org

Attention Is the Fuel of American Politics, and Trump Knows It​

Washington is filled with lobbying offices and fund-raisers because powerful interests believe something is gained when dollars are spent. They are right. We have come to expect and accept a grotesque level of daily corruption in American politics — abetted by a series of Supreme Court rulings that give money the protections of speech and by congressional Republicans who have fought even modest campaign finance reforms. But we have at least some rules to limit money’s power in politics and track its movements.

The same cannot be said for attention. If Trump saves TikTok and, in return, TikTok boosts pro-Trump content before the 2026 elections to help it go viral, would that be illegal? Perhaps. But would we even know it had happened? If Elon Musk turns the dials on X to tilt the conversation in the Republican Party’s direction before the 2028 elections, who will stop him?

Opinion | Trump Has Something He Would Like to Bring to Your Attention

Attention is the fuel of American politics, and Trump knows it.

www.nytimes.com

Color me concerned that trump, who doesn't even have a passing regard for the law or ethical norms, already has the most powerful social media platform (as long as he and Elon don't have a falling out)) in his back pocket, owns one of his own, and has already been promoted on Tik Tok for thwarting a bipartisan law passed by Congress.

The influence of the combined, unchecked, disinformation being spewed on social media, far right internet sites, and cable propagandists like Fox, has never been seen before. It's an authoritarian's dream. But hey, I'm sure it will turn out okay.

Biden taught us that there are no such boundaries, even all the way up to giving blanket pardons to family members when they hadn't even been charged with any crimes to weaponizing law enforcement and the courts to go after political opponents to ignoring Supreme Court decisions.

 

[ThisIsMe]

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is actively using X (formerly Twitter), the social media platform he bought in 2022, to promote his far-right political interests. Vittoria Elliott at WIRED writes that Musk has made the platform “his own personal political bullhorn.” Tech journalist Casey Newton says that X is now “just a political project.”

Even before his endorsement of former President Donald Trump in July, Musk had already changed X in substantial ways that favor MAGA politics and personalities. He restored accounts of far-right figures such as white nationalist Nick Fuentes and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, relaxed content moderation policies, and disposed of much of the company’s trust and safety and election integrity teams.

But after the endorsement, Musk’s efforts on behalf of the Trump campaign appeared to surge. He launched a political action committee dedicated to Trump’s reelection. He hosted a livestream with the former president, whom Musk coaxed back onto the platform after he was previously banned for incitement to violence after the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S, Capitol. According to The New York Times, Musk “hired a Republican operative with expertise in field organizing” to help direct his political activities. And according to Trump, Musk has agreed to head a “government efficiency” task force that aims to make “recommendations for drastic reforms” across the entire federal government should Trump win a second term. All the while, Musk continues to promote his preferred brand of politics through posts on his own account, which has close to 200 million followers (and frequently appears in users’ feed as recommended content whether they follow him or not).

While it may be jarring for users and others who hoped the platform might not succumb so completely to the interests of its singular owner, it is Musk’s prerogative to shape X to his tastes. No social media platform is truly politically neutral. And it is not a novel circumstance that the singular owner of a platform has such extraordinary influence over its operations, policies, and political decisions. But Musk’s use of X to try to influence the 2024 U.S. election is the most extreme example to date of a person in his position using a major social media platform for a specific political outcome. It is so blatant and outside the norm, it can be considered a class of its own.

Musk, X, and Trump 2024: Where are the Legal and Ethical Boundaries?

The limits and ability of social media companies to influence the outcome of elections.

www.justsecurity.org

Attention Is the Fuel of American Politics, and Trump Knows It​

Washington is filled with lobbying offices and fund-raisers because powerful interests believe something is gained when dollars are spent. They are right. We have come to expect and accept a grotesque level of daily corruption in American politics — abetted by a series of Supreme Court rulings that give money the protections of speech and by congressional Republicans who have fought even modest campaign finance reforms. But we have at least some rules to limit money’s power in politics and track its movements.

The same cannot be said for attention. If Trump saves TikTok and, in return, TikTok boosts pro-Trump content before the 2026 elections to help it go viral, would that be illegal? Perhaps. But would we even know it had happened? If Elon Musk turns the dials on X to tilt the conversation in the Republican Party’s direction before the 2028 elections, who will stop him?

Opinion | Trump Has Something He Would Like to Bring to Your Attention

Attention is the fuel of American politics, and Trump knows it.

www.nytimes.com

Color me concerned that trump, who doesn't even have a passing regard for the law or ethical norms, already has the most powerful social media platform (as long as he and Elon don't have a falling out)) in his back pocket, owns one of his own, and has already been promoted on Tik Tok for thwarting a bipartisan law passed by Congress.

The influence of the combined, unchecked, disinformation being spewed on social media, far right internet sites, and cable propagandists like Fox, has never been seen before. It's an authoritarian's dream. But hey, I'm sure it will turn out okay.

Oh my....it was fine when zuck and dorsey were using their platforms for the bidding of the demo, and biden was telling zuck to censor people...it's bad now when repubs control these things?