Has Elon Musk lost control of his own social media platform?

By Michael Baggs (with Emily Maitlis & Jon Sopel)

Elon Musk has deleted a post from X, which he owns, that some claimed could incite violence against Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

In brief…

Read time: 2 mins

• Musk deleted a post on X in which he questioned why no assassination attempts had been made against Joe Biden or Kamala Harris.
• He claims people in a private group chat had found his comments funny, but that context was missed on X.
• The News Agents wonder if Musk is losing control of his own social media platform.

What's the story?

Elon Musk was forced to delete a post from his own social media platform, X, after backlash and some suggestions it could potentially incite violence.

Following the second alleged assassination attempt  on Donald Trump's life, Musk wrote on X: “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden / Kamala”.

A spokesperson for The White House called his post “irresponsible", and even the Secret Service said it was "aware" of Musk's comment.

After Musk, a Trump supporter, deleted the tweet, he claimed people had found it hilarious when he posted the comment in a private group chat, adding that people had missed the "context" of his statement.

Elon Musk backtracks on Trump assassination comments

Why does it matter?

X – and the content it hosts – has been fiercely debated since Musk's £44 billion takeover in October 2022.

One of his first actions was to reinstate accounts of people previously banned for using hate speech on the platform, including Trump himself, saying his vision was to encourage free speech.

But this time Musk’s own free speech went too far - and he deleted the post himself after the backlash ensued.

What's The News Agents' take?

Jon Sopel says his deleted tweet, which had millions of views and thousands of likes, looked a lot like "incitement".

Musk has openly endorsed Trump and the Republican Party during the 2024 election campaign, but has often fallen into the traps of misinformation utilised by the party in its messaging around policy, and Democratic Party rivals.

Jon adds that Musk deleting his post is reflective of how bitter and divisive the language has become around US politics.

"It just goes to show the out-of-control nature of the political dialog when the owner of X is having to delete his own tweets because they offend in such a way," he says.

As for Emily, she says "the mind boggles" at the situation, and how the platform has changed since Musk took over.

"It shows this incredible naivety of which we know Elon Musk is capable, and suggests that the Twitter-sphere is now out of his control as well," she says.

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