Elon Musk will join Donald Trump for his election night party in Mar-a-Lago, continuing his aggressive campaigning for the Republican candidate.
The billionaire entrepreneur and owner of social media platform X has spent a whopping $119 million on his pro-Trump political action committee, America PAC, during this election.
He announced his support for the former president earlier this year after the July 13 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, despite saying in 2022 that ‘it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset’.
Under Musk’s ownership, and with his decision to endorse Trump, many are concerned that he might use X and his influence on the platform to tip the scales in favour of the Republicans.
Musk, whose tweets reportedly receive special amplification to his more than 200 million followers and the site’s half-a-billion monthly users, frequently posts about his support for the former president.
On the platform he has asserted, without any evidence, that Trump’s campaign is heading for a ‘crushing victory’ over Harris.
X has also been heavily criticised for allowing the spread of misinformation on the platform, including false claims of election cheating by Democrats and phoney voting problems.
The Wall Street Journal claimed in October that X served political content to users who express no interest in politics and promotes pro-Trump over pro-Harris posts at a two-to-one ratio.
In yet another controversial move the Tesla and SpaceX CEO promised last month to give away $1 million daily until Election Day to people in swing states.
According to the America PAC website, 16 people, including four in Pennsylvania, have received the $1 million awards. The winners were reportedly randomly selected among those who signed a petition pledging support for free speech and gun rights.
The offer was limited to registered voters in one of seven states that will likely decide the outcome of the Nov. 5 election – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The Justice Department warned Musk and his America PAC last month that the sweepstakes may violate federal law, which prohibits paying people to register to vote.
He has also appeared on stage with Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and hosted a series of town halls on his own in the eastern state, seen as critical in today’s election.
The ex-Federal Election Commission general counsel Larry Noble told the Guardian: ‘When Musk bought Twitter and rebranded it as X, he complained that it had been unfairly censoring conservative viewpoints and he wanted to make it an uncensored marketplace of ideas.
‘It now appears that Musk is using his wealth and ability to reach hundreds of millions of followers with lies and debunked conspiracy theories about how elections are being administered.
‘Now that he has fully and openly embraced Trump, he has joined Trump and his other minions in spreading the claim that the only way Trump can lose the upcoming election is if there is widespread fraud. Of course, they are already claiming, without credible evidence, that election fraud is already taking place.’