Elon Musk’s X social media platform has reportedly worked with Donald Trump’s campaign to censor material that could be harmful to the former president’s White House chances as part of a pattern of election interference that is unprecedented in U.S. history.
According to The New York Times, Trump told one associate that Musk was pumping $500 million into his campaign. The two men are said to speak “multiple times a week.”
The Times reported that the Trump campaign “connected with X” to prevent the spread of hacked information supposedly from a dossier drawn up by GOP staffers tasked with vetting running mate JD Vance.
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X, formerly known as Twitter, then suspended the account of the journalist who posted the leak and blocked links to the material, said two people quoted as having knowledge of the situation.
Despite insisting in a 2022 post that the platform he bought for $44 billion “needs to be politically neutral”, the world’s richest man has thrown his considerable weight behind Trump’s 2024 presidential election campaign.
Musk has reportedly posted at least 109 times about Trump and the election since endorsing the GOP nominee in July. They include a now-deleted post last month in which he said “no one is even trying” to assassinate President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris.
He has also accused Democrats of trying to fast-track immigration in an attempt to manipulate the voting landscape in their favor and spread baseless conspiracy theories about Trump’s opponents.
The Times says Musk is even considering going on a bus tour and knocking on doors himself in Pennsylvania, considered a crucial swing state, after moving his operations there to focus on boosting Trump’s chances in the run-up to Nov. 5.
The tech billionaire’s “frenzied engagement” in the race is said by the Times to reflect his determination to help secure a Trump victory. His millions are being funneled through a Super PAC and he has set up a team of top advisors at a war room in Pittsburgh.
According to federal records, America PAC has so far spent $80 million boosting the Trump campaign, much of it going towards voter canvassing programs.
“I’m not sure there is a precedent in modern history to how Musk has inserted himself into the presidential race,” historian Benjamin Soskis told the Times.
