Was Musk Radicalised by His Own Platform?
The Great Replacement theory is thriving on X, due in part to its ‘free speech’ policies but also due to an endorsement from the former CEO and current CTO of the platform, Elon Musk. Over the past few months, Musk’s feed, with a reach of over 175 million individuals, has featured more and more anti-illegal-immigration posts, most of which are conspiratorial in nature and designed to incite racial hatred.
However, in a recent interview, when asked if he believes in the Great Replacement theory, Musk replied that he does not ‘subscribe to that’, stating instead that there is no conspiracy to replace white people but an ‘incentive’ to do so, in order to increase Democratic voters.
Musk persistently promotes this notion despite the fact that undocumented immigrants cannot vote and most asylum seekers are denied citizenship. In 2023, the number of approvals/ extensions was only 9%, the rest were deported. Moreover, the idea that immigrants would automatically support the Democratic party is belied by the fact that minority support for the Democrats is at its lowest point in 60 years.
