Judd Legum, Rebecca Crosby, and Noel Sims write:

In 2022, Elon Musk purchased Twitter, one of the world’s largest social networks, for $44 billion. From a financial perspective, it has not worked out well. Over the last two years, the value of Twitter — which Musk renamed X — has plunged. Internal documents reveal that company executives believed it was worth less than half of what Musk paid for it by October 2023. In 2024, Fidelity valued the company at just $12.5 billion.

Musk’s ownership of X, however, gives him full control over its algorithm. According to a report by The Verge, Musk “created a special system” that promotes his posts “to the entire user base.” The new system initially “artificially boosted Musk’s tweets by a factor of 1,000 – a constant score that ensured his tweets rank higher than anyone else’s in the feed.” Musk himself posted a crude meme mocking the ubiquity of his posts on the network after the algorithm change. Although the artificial boost to Musk’s posts has been moderated somewhat, Musk continues to dominate the default “For You” feed of nearly everyone who uses X.

In recent weeks, Musk, who officially endorsed former President Donald Trump on July 13, has weaponized his account to flood millions of X users with pro-Trump and anti-Vice President Kamala Harris messages. Over the last month, Musk has published at least 173 posts supporting Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), or attacking their Democratic opponents. [Continue reading…]