As associate professors at the School of Media at the University of Quebec in Montreal, teaching in particular in the Digital Media program, we pay particular attention to the instrumentalization of socio-digital media in the American electoral context.
When Silicone Valley interferes in politics
The main social media platforms, including the GAMAM group companies (Google-Alphabet, Meta, Apple and Microsoft), maintain close relationships with political authorities in the United States and internationally.
While a significant part of fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, are often subject to the decisions of these megacorporations, let us remember that Mark Zuckerberg actively lobbied against TikTok to the American authorities. Moreover, Facebook and Google have been implicated in censorship practices on the Vietnamese market, which they sought to conquer.
However, the case of Elon Musk‘s purchase of Twitter clearly illustrates that “freedom of expression” is confused with a simple advertising slogan when it must pass through the filter of algorithms and adapt to the neoliberal vision of network management. Musk, after endorsing Obama in 2008 and 2012, which allowed Tesla to benefit from government subsidiesHillary Clinton in 2016, then Joe Biden in 2020, reoriented his support in 2024 to offer unreserved support to Donald Trump.
I strongly supported Obama for President, but today’s Democratic Party has been hijacked by extremists
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 29, 2022
He even created a political action committee (PAC) in support of the Republican candidate, promoting that support on his own profile.
Profil X d’Elon Musk.
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By October, he had reached the contribution limit for a single donor, which was $132 million.
Musk’s purchase of Twitter: a game of chess in public
Elon Musk acquired Twitter for approximately US$44 billion (C$61 billion). The transaction begins in April 2022, in the form of an apparent “hostile takeover”, as Musk then publicly acquires 9% of the shares of the social network. To avoid this takeover, the managers offer the billionaire a seat on the board of directors. Musk responds with an offer to purchase all of the shares, at a price higher than their market value.
In June, businessman plays his next move : he wants to postpone the transaction, citing the need to assess the number of fake accounts on the platform.
Nevertheless, his counterparts are determined to conclude and take legal action. The chess game ends on October 27, 2022 and Musk, with the support of the banking firm Morgan Stanley, made the purchase. From his first expressions of interest in Twitter, he wanted to take advantage of the platform’s potential.
Twitter: influencing the world in real time
Musk was well aware of Twitter’s potential to influence markets, having himself manipulated Tesla’s stock price, earning him a fine of 20 million dollars of the SEC in 2018. He also made jump Bitcoin in 2021 by adding #bitcoin to his bio.
Furthermore, events like the Arab Spring in 2011 revealed the central role of Twitter in social mobilization and the rapid dissemination of information, also redefining journalism by the brevity and velocity of its messages.
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The network allowed researchers, like the professor of communication at La Sorbonne, Virginie Julliardto analyze corpora of conversations around hashtags such as #gendertheory. Politicians, civil servants, journalists and researchers have recognized Twitter as a hashtag social analysis toolreinforced by its powerful search engine, developed with the Russian company Yandex in 2012.
It is this established power of influence that Musk sought to acquire.
From Twitter to X: towards an opaque and centralized algorithmic logic
Before Musk acquired Twitter, the network stood out for the transparency of its algorithm, which gave users the choice between an antichronological display or a presentation of the most popular messages.
Since then, the algorithm has become more complex and the launch of the paid “blue check mark” has transformed the value of this badge, formerly reserved for public figures and verified journalists. Today, for around ten dollars, Musk allows everyone to modify their publications, write up to 10,000 characters and, above all, obtain increased visibility.
Elon Musk speaks at a political event for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, October 27, 2024, in New York.
AP / Julia Demaree Nikhinson
By reducing the role of moderation, it delegates to the community the responsibility of countering misinformation and verifying “facts” through the functionality Notes. These transformations embody a break with Twitter’s initial philosophy, where transparency and accessibility were at the heart of the user experience.
This development reflects a broader trend in social media where algorithmic management, initiated by Facebook in 2009, then adopted by Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn in the following years, is transforming the way in which information circulates.
According to doctor of legal sciences Antoinette Rouvroy, this algorithmic logic tends to favor a hypertrophy of the private sphere to the detriment of public space.
The algorithms of these platforms, described as “black boxes” by researchers and observersamplify certain voices while making others invisible, segmenting users into personalized content and weakening the very notion of “common”. On X, this logic is taken to the extreme: Elon Musk has superuser status and its messages are imposed on all users, whether they follow it or not.
Far from the values of Web 2.0, which advocated a participatory, open and free culture, X now embodies a neoliberal vision of the right to speak. Within this, visibility becomes a monetized and centralized commodity. The public space finds itself governed by algorithmic logics and economic interests which redefine the boundaries of democratic participation online.
A Musk-style spectacle of freedom of expression
On Calling himself an “absolutist of freedom of expression”, Musk restored, by a popular vote on his account, some accounts having been suspended for violation of network regulations.
Among them, former President Trump, banned after supporting the “patriots” during the insurrection of January 6, 2021 and Marjorie Taylor-Green, excluded in 2022 for repeated publications of disinformation on Covid-19.
With Musk at the head of X, it is no longer just about technological governance, but direct control over the very conditions of expression. By deciding what is amplified or silenced, Musk is not only redefining the contours of free speech on the platform, but also in society at large. From then on, speaking of freedom becomes problematic in these conditions, since being directed, this freedom is precisely not free.
From a public space to Musk’s private platform
After supporting Democratic candidates, Elon Musk publicly gave his support to Donald Trump for this election, while amplifying conservative ideas, even conspiracy theorists. His contributions, both financial and communicational, to the ex-president’s campaign, notably through a live interview with Trump on Xclearly illustrate his desire to directly influence the political scene.
This involvement shows how Musk uses X to promote his personal positions and give voice to those who share his vision. Aware of the platform’s power of influence, he knowingly imposed his own definition of “freedom of expression”. A prime example of this is the reconfiguration of X’s algorithm and functionality to maximize the visibility of its ideas, often at the expense of diversity of opinion.
Thus, X no longer functions as a public space for democratic exchanges, but as a private sphere shaped by Musk’s ideological and commercial choices. By amplifying certain voices and silencing others – through opaque algorithms – it exercises direct control over the conditions of expression on the platform.
