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Musk misleading election claims viewed 1.2bn times on X – with no fact checks 

Elon Musk is spreading harmful election disinformation on X, breaking his platform's own guidelines

Elon Musk is spreading election disinformation

New analysis shows that Elon Musk’s false or misleading claims about the US elections have been viewed nearly 1.2 billion times on X. None of the posts displayed a Community Note, X’s name for user-generated fact-checks that Musk claims are “a clear and immediate way to refute anything false” posted to X.

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New analysis shows that Elon Musk’s false or misleading claims about the US elections have been viewed nearly 1.2 billion times on X. 

None of the posts displayed a Community Note, X’s name for user-generated fact-checks that Musk claims are “a clear and immediate way to refute anything false” posted to X.i 

Researchers examined Musk’s posts about the US elections between January 1 and July 31, identifying 50 posts that appear to have been debunked by independent fact-checkers. 

Musk’s false or misleading posts about the elections fall into three main categories: 

  • Claims that Democrats are “importing voters”; 
  • Claims voting is vulnerable to fraud; 
  • AI-generated fake video of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. 

Musk’s claims that Democrats are “importing voters” viewed 747m times 

In the year to date, Musk has posted false or misleading claims about the Democrats “importing voters” on 42 occasions, amassing 747 million views. 

Musk has sometimes claimed that Democrats are tolerating or encouraging illegal migration with the aim of having them vote in forthcoming elections. Musk quoted one post claiming that the aim of this is “importing people, names, that allows the state fraud process to generate ballots”, describing this conspiracy theory as “a more accurate description of what happens regarding voter fraud”.ii Examples include: 

  • “The Dem Party goal is to import voters” (51.4m views)iii 
  • “The goal all along has been to import as many illegal voters as possible” (45.7m views)iv 
  • “Dems won’t deport, because every illegal is a highly likely vote at some point.” (40.6m views)v 
  • “Biden’s strategy is very simple: 1. Get as many illegals in the country as possible. 2. Legalize them to create a permanent majority – a one-party state.” (48.9m views) 

Fact-checkers say Musk is wrong to claim that Democrats are ‘recruiting’ immigrants to build a majority for their party, both because it takes years for immigrants to become US citizens with voting rights and because there is no guarantee who they would vote for.vi Noncitizens who vote also risk deportation or incarceration.vii 

Musk has also claimed that Democrats could gain “roughly 20 more House seats” as a result of the way that the illegal immigrants are counted by the census, and therefore taken into account when House seats and Electoral College votes are apportioned to different states. Examples include:

  • “Most Americans are still unaware that the census counts ALL people, including illegal immigrants, for deciding how many House seats each state gets! This results in Dem states getting roughly 20 more House seats, which is another strong incentive for them not to deport illegals.” (42.7m views)viii 
  • “Most people in America don’t know that the census is based on a simple headcount of people (including illegals) *not* just citizens. This shifts political power and money to states and Congressional districts with the highest number of illegals.” (22.9m views) 

Fact-checkers say Musk “overstated” the impact that illegal immigration could have on the apportionment of House seats and Electoral College votes.ix Whereas Musk claimed this phenomenon hands the Democrats an extra 20 House seats, analysis from the Pew Research Center suggests it really amount to the redistribution of just three seats.x 

Musk’s claims about vote fraud viewed 288m times 

In the year to date, Musk has posted false or misleading claims about the integrity of voting seven times amassing 288 million views, often criticizing mail-in ballots and electronic voting machines. 

Musk has claimed that mail-in ballots are vulnerable to fraud, saying “When combined with mail-in ballots, the system is *designed* to make it impossible to prove fraud.”xi Examples include: 

  • “In the USA, you don’t need government issued ID to vote and you can mail in your ballot. This is insane.” (60.2m views)xii 
  • “When combined with mail-in ballots, the system is *designed* to make it impossible to prove fraud. Mail-in and drop box ballots should not be allowed, as cameras on the in-person voting stations would at least prevent large-scale fraud by counting how many people showed up vs ballots cast.” (53.7m views)xiii 
  • “Widespread voting by mail (not allowed before the scamdemic) makes proving fraud almost impossible” (138,000 views)xiv 

Fact-checkers say that voter fraud related to ballots sent by mail or placed in drop boxes is extremely rare. Experts say that mail ballots are verified when being requested by a voter and verified again when returning a ballot.xv 

Voting rarely results in fraud, with mailed ballots counted either by tabulators or, more rarely, by hand at a location election office. Voting equipment is also tested before and after elections to identify any problems, with no major problems having been previously reported.  

Musk has also claimed that electronic voting machines are “risky” and at “risk of being hacked”. Examples include: 

  • “We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high.” (101.1m views)xvi 
  • “Electronic voting machines and anything mailed in is too risky. We should mandate paper ballots and in-person voting only.” (27.6m views)xvii

Fact-checkers say that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency assessed the security of the 2020 election, which used electronic voting machines in some places, finding “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised.”xviii 

Musk’s post featuring AI-generated clip of Kamala Harris received 133m views 

Musk shared an AI-generated voice clip of Kamala Harris saying “I was selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire […] So, if you criticize anything I say, you’re both sexist and racist.”xix The post was viewed 133 million times and does not display a warning label. 

The post is a violation of Musk’s own platform’s policy, which clearly states: “You may not share synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm (‘misleading media’).”xx The policy also adds that the platform may label posts containing such content, although Musk’s post appeared not to carry one.xxi 

CCDH CEO & Founder Imran Ahmed said:

Imran Ahmed, CEO, Center for Countering Digital Hate commented on the findings: 

“Elon Musk is abusing his privileged position as owner of a small, but politically influential, social media platform to sow disinformation that generates discord and distrust. 

“The lack of Community Notes on these posts shows that his business is failing woefully to contain the kind of algorithmically-boosted incitement that we all know can lead to real-world violence, as we experienced on January 6, 2021. 

“It is time Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act 1986 was amended to allow social media companies to be held liable in the same way as any newspaper, broadcaster or business across America.” 

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