The Election Lies Are Already Starting On X

Will Oremus: “Since Elon Musk bought X four years ago, the platform has been a petri dish for rumors and propaganda. Now, having weathered a liberal exodus to other platforms, X could play a central role in the midterm elections—especially if Republicans fare poorly. X has become the go-to place for MAGA supporters to hunt for examples of voter fraud, which could be used to cast doubt on results that don’t go Republicans’ way. President Trump has endorsed this crusade—he recently announced a $1 million bounty for voter-fraud tips that lead to a conviction.”

“Community Notes, which even some of Musk’s critics have praised as a worthwhile program, would seem to offer a bulwark against bogus claims of vote-rigging. It’s built around a clever idea: Each proposed note gets rated ‘helpful’ or ‘not helpful’ by users who have disagreed about related past notes. X publishes only the notes on which the users have reached a consensus. Yet even though X has expanded the feature, bringing in AI note writers to work alongside the human volunteers, it’s proving stubbornly incapable of addressing most election-related falsehoods. If Tuesday and the days afterward bring widespread claims of rigged results, expect many of them to originate on X.”