You may have been following Musk's very public love-in with Donald Trump. No sooner had the former president picked himself up off the ground after a failed assassination attempt than Musk used his own platform - Twitter/X - to announce to its hundreds of millions of users that he was "fully" endorsing him.
There followed a string of conspiracy-minded posts, including the suggestion that the failure of the Secret Service to protect Trump could have been deliberate. The "legacy media" was, he announced, a "pure propaganda machine". Unlike Twitter/X, which was the voice of the people. His words.
He endorsed Trump-Vance ("Resounds with victory"). He once again denigrated legacy media. And then The Wall Street Journal reported that he would be giving around $45m (£35m) a month to a new pro-Trump super Pac - a political action committee which can channel unlimited sums of money to advocate for a particular candidate.
Musk says it's not as much as $45m, and that the mysterious super Pac is not solely devoted to getting Trump back in the White House - even though Trump himself gleefully welcomed it at a rally. In any event, there is a very considerable devotion between Musk and Trump and we should all be very happy on their behalf.
Except this. Musk owns the main platform where politicians, journalists and audiences converge in America today. Yes, Facebook is 10 times the size, but Mark Zuckerberg has tired of the messiness of news and politics. Twitter/X is hugely important as a place of news, opinion, influence and impact. And one man controls it.
Esta historia es de la edición July 27, 2024 de The Independent.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición July 27, 2024 de The Independent.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
The face of baseball making history after betting scandal
Shohei Ohtani’s season began with him mired in a betting scandal for which he bore no fault, has included him achieving something no one else in the 150-year history of professional baseball has, and will likely end with him earning a third MVP (most valuable player) award of his career.
Who has taken pole as US politics enters the F1 world?
Election hopefuls are using the sport to promote campaigns
We can't stand Musk but he astounded us all this week
I have a confession to make: for a brief moment this week, I became a fully paid-up Elon Musk fanboy.
Saka chasing down the most elusive and weirdest record
With seven assists in as many matches to start the Premier League, is the single-season target of 20 within his reach?
MG dismiss dip in demand for EVs as its sales surge
Carmaker MG has insisted that a drop in electric car interest is “short term” as sales of its vehicles surged last year in the UK.
True story of the killer who appeared on a dating show
Netflix film Woman of the Hour’ is based on the life of serial killer Rodney Alcala, a man who was invited on a gameshow for primetime television and won. Words: Annabel Nugent
Greatest sequel of all time?
Once described as having an overstuffed plot’, Back to the Future 2’ is now up there with the second Terminator’ and Godfather’. Geoffrey Macnab goes back to see what changed
Payne drew the short straw in One Direction; now we'll never know the real him
In and out of the boy band, Liam Payne struggled to find a defining identity, writes Mark Beaumont. His life now cut tragically short, the singer is likely to remain elusive forever
Zelensky tells EU and Nato to back his 'victory plan'
Ukraine president pushes for invitation to military alliance
US stealth bombers strike Houthi bunkers in Yemen
US B-2 stealth bombers have been used against the Iran-backed Houthis for the first time in an escalation of Washington’s response to attacks on shipping in the Red Sea that serves as a message to Tehran.
