Elon Musk is Cleverly Pushing Twitter ‘X’ Further to the Political Right

His recent posts suggest he is leaning more towards conservatism, and he’s emboldening others on the platform in the process.

What do you do when a platform is becoming too “woke” for your liking? Well, you either start your own, or you buy one that already has millions of users.

That’s what billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk did when he took over Twitter, rebranding it as “X”. Since that time, I’ve noticed some changes in the content I’m seeing in my feed, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence.

In fact, I’m starting to see fewer differences between Twitter (X) and Parler, a clone of the platform for right-wingers — while fewer of my progressive followers seem to be reaching me in the X feed.

Amplifying conservative voices

I think I’m seeing more posts from obviously right-leaning users, including this one from Canadian Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman, whom I do not follow on the platform.

She and her colleagues are currently frothing at the mouth over a scandal involving a Nazi being honoured in the House of Commons, and X is amplifying her criticism of the Liberal government.

I had to mute her account so I didn’t see her constant attacks, which are obviously meant to score political points and embolden conservative voters.

But that’s not the only thing I’ve noticed. Musk himself retweets right-wing sympathizers.

This one in particular bothered me. It was an RT of a right-wing media figure, who was reporting on protests in Ottawa against LGBTQ rights for children. The post said it was a push against “explicit sexual content in schools and radical gender idealogy,” which is utter bullshit.

Musk added the comment “wow,” making it somewhat unclear what he’s “wowing” at — the size of the protest or the ignorance about it. Either way, he could’ve chosen a more neutral source to spread to his 158 million followers, rather than one that is obviously slanted.

(Musk’s own daughter has come out as trans, but Musk reportedly supports criminalizing gender-affirming care for children.)

Here are other recent examples where he criticizes migrants coming into the U.S. Sure, immigration needs proper planning to avoid a drain on resources — many liberals can agree on this.

However, there’s no secret that anti-immigration is a bigger part of the Republican mindset, and Musk’s criticism of the Democrats on this issue doesn’t go unnoticed.

Then there are these ones. Musk met with Hungarian President Katalin Novák about the “population collapse crisis.”

He has previously stated his concern for dwindling birth rates, calling it a bigger crisis than global warming.

However, this seems to contrast with his stance on immigration, which is historically important to maintain labour forces and tax bases. In other words, the benefits of immigration to the economy are greater than the short-term expenses.

This view of “just have some more children” is inherently right-wing.

It seems to ignore the fact that many families are struggling and cannot afford to raise more young. Canada incentivizes having kids with a financial payout, but it (and other countries) will need to increase parental support if they want to avoid this crisis from getting worse.

Musk, a billionaire, has 11 kids with three different women. To be fair, he has previously said he wants to increase childcare benefits across his companies (Tesla and SpaceX.)

Instead of jabbing the current U.S. government for allowing mass immigration, maybe he should lobby them more for child-rearing payments to poorer Americans. But that’s just me.

Musk has previously said he’s split down the middle politically — that he’s 50/50 Republican and Democrat (he reportedly voted for Joe Biden, although a newer article says he didn’t actually vote.)

However, it would seem based on his posts as far back as 2022 that he is leaning more to the right, as the New York Times also points out. The Atlantic has already called Musk a far-right activist, all based on one tweet (shown below)

It does seem he’s holding up an agenda that’s much more likely to be based on anti-immigration, as well as anti-gay and trans sentiments masked as “family values.”

His immense privilege is showing through brighter than ever.

Elon’s influence is important for humanity’s future

I’m not saying Elon is inherently a bad person or that he’s not doing any good for the world. I do have some respect for him — it can’t be easy to run multiple companies and raise 11 kids (with the help of his staff, I’m sure.)

His companies’ tech innovations are changing the vehicle market (for the better, in my opinion), and he’s claimed that his Neuralink brain chip could help the paralyzed walk again.

Meanwhile, while we are amidst a climate crisis here on Earth, he’s looking to colonize Mars through the help of his space company. (This would be good for the rich — but I doubt many writers like me will be on the virgin voyage.)

He seems to be a genuinely smart guy, knowing how to lead his followers and stir debate. He has fans on both sides of the political spectrum and is even a hero for the tech-bros that have embraced cryptocurrency.

He has obvious mass appeal and is sometimes still on the right side of history, which makes it hard to pin down Musk’s politics. If he ran for office, I’m honestly not sure which party he’d join.

However, anyone paying attention to him on X in recent history will see he is moving further into conservatism.

I don’t think that’s good news for the average person, who could use a more compassionate role model as they bend under the pressure of poverty and inflation.

(I have replied to some of Musk’s tweets with my concerns, but as of the time of publication, he had not addressed them. I’m not holding my breath.)