Rome (AP) – Elon Musk Although he may have fallen from Washington, DC’s political grace, his power over X, which he orders the most popular explanation, remains unconfirmed as he attempts to build a new political party.
Musk is King Maker On the platform He acquired it in 2022 for $44 billion. He uses his influence to nurture right-wing politicians and rebel activists all over Europe. According to an analysis of public data from the Associated Press, retweets or replies from Musk could lead to millions of views and tens of thousands of new followers.
That fact has not been lost to influencers who permanently tagged Musks in search of replies and retweets. Europe also promotes concerns about foreign interference from the US, not from Russia or China.
“All alarm bells need to ring,” Chrisle Chardemose, vice president of the European Parliament, who is working on election interference and digital regulation, told the Associated Press.
The Associated Press has analyzed over 20,000 posts. This was compiled by bright data over three years from a sample of 11 European figures, which had important interactions with musk and frequently. Promote difficult political or social agendas.
These case studies are not intended to represent the wider universe. Rather, they show how Musk’s involvement can affect local influencers who share his views.
Musk has the drastic power to focus attention on x
Since acquiring Twitter in October 2022, Elon Musk has more than 220 million followers. Other large accounts have not shown such high or consistent growth.
The result: If Musk’s X account is his megaphone, it has become much bigger since he took over – a change with global meaning.
The accounts promoted by Musk are part of a global alliance of common nationalist parties and unified individuals, halting migration, overturning progressive policies, and promoting an absolutist vision of freedom of speech.
Some of the AP’s accounts analyzed belong to those facing allegations of illegal conduct in their country. Tommy Robinson, an anti-immigrant agitator in the UK; He was sentenced to prison in October violated a court order blocking him from making an honorable claim against Syrian refugees. Bjoern Hoecke, a politician for the German Alternatives (AFD) party, Last year, he was found guilty of knowingly using Nazi slogans In a speech.
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini He was acquitted in December Of allegations that he illegally detained 100 migrants on a humanitarian rescue ship
AP: Among others considered by Alice Weidel, the German Alternatives (AFD) party led the showcase in the best elections of the year. Evavradinger Broke is a Dutch influencer known as the “Far Right Shield Maiden.” German activist Naomi Save is known as the “anti-greta samberg,” who is now a political exile in Washington, D.C. Both Ruben Prido and Madrid’s Four are associated with the Spanish populist Vox party. And Fidias Panaioutz, a politician from Cyprus, defends the mask company.
These accounts have collectively gained around 5 million followers since October 2022 when Musk took over Twitter from January to January of this year. Most people increased by more than 6,000% in one case of a small account that had triple-digit percentages reach 920% or exploded during that time. Even some accounts that grew more steadily on their own began to rise sharply in their followers and sharply as Musk began to interact with them. Similarly, the number of views that your account has skyrocketed on the day Musk interacted with the post – most often generates 2-4x views, and you’re watching a 30x or 40x boost from your usual daily audience.
Like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Party’s ruling brothers have neo-fascist roots, and more established players, like Musk’s orbital prime minister, will benefit less if Musk interacts with them in X, the AP found.
Those seeking attention know that attracting masks is transformative
The advantage of masks creates a strong incentive for people to engage masks in their content.
German climate skeptic Naomi Save has listened nearly 600 times over the past three years. Musk was eventually engaged in June 2024. He asked her to explain why the German (AFD) party alternatives are so controversial in Germany.
Since then, Musk has responded, quoted or tagged Seibt more than 50 times, and since Musk took over the platform, her followers have grown to over 320,000. Musk interacted with Save, and her posts averaged 2.6 times more views.
“I had not intentionally ‘invade’. Elon’s algorithm,” Save told the AP. “Obviously, Elon has a lot of influence and it helps people who are usually glued to legacy media, especially Germany, to share their messages.”
The online impact of masks has real-world political and economic impacts
Alice Weidel, who helps lead the German (AFD) party alternative, saw the daily audience surged from 230,000 to 2.2 million on the day Musk interacted with X’s post after hosting a live stream on X. Weidel’s party, which has halted lawsuits to block the German government’s decision to designate it as an extremist group, has continued to secure the highest election rise ever.
Musk also uses the X to defend Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s solid league party. On the day Musk interacted with Salvini’s account, average viewing was more than four times higher than usual. Salvini, who is now deputy prime minister, urged the government to proceed with Starlink’s controversial contracts and opposed European efforts to regulate X’s content.
And Musk has a friend in Brussels: Phidias Panaiotou – A 25-year-old social media influencer from Cyprus. Last year, Cyprus spent several weeks exploring Elon Musk to embrace him before winning a surprise seat in the European Parliament. In January 2023, his wish came true. Their embrace went viral. Since taking office, Panayiotou has praised X on the floor of the European Parliament, opposed regulations affecting the platform and praised his call to fire 80% of EU officials.
Clearly, Musk was pleased. “Vote for Phidias,” he wrote to X:
Approval has been seen 11.5 million times.
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Kessler reported from Washington
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Contact the AP’s Global Research Team (Email protection) or https://www.ap.org/tips/
