Elon Musk Is Spreading Election Misinformation, but X’s Fact Checkers Are Long Gone
In the spring of 2020, when President Donald J. Trump wrote messages on Twitter warning that increased reliance on mail-in ballots would lead to a “rigged election,” the platform ran a corrective, debunking his claims.
“Get the facts about mail-in voting,” a content label read. “Experts say mail-in ballots are very rarely linked to voter fraud,” the hyperlinked article declared.
This month, Elon Musk, who has since bought Twitter and rebranded it X, echoed several of Mr. Trump’s claims about the American voting system, putting forth distorted and false notions that American elections were wide open for fraud and illegal voting by noncitizens.
This time, there were no fact checks. And the X algorithm — under Mr. Musk’s direct control — helped the posts reach large audiences, in some cases drawing many millions of views.
Since taking control of the site, Mr. Musk has dismantled the platform’s system for flagging false election content, arguing it amounted to election interference.
the mods on Lemmy don't care about election misinformation either. I have had a thousand people tell me that voting for cornel west counts as a vote for trump, and I have never seen it removed.
hell, I was told this by a moderator for c/politics.
They weren't wrong. There is a reason West is getting donations from conservatives like Harlan Crow that oppose his views.
They are wrong. You can stamp your feet and insist otherwise because you're scared of losing, but they're wrong.
But they are wrong. If someone is in a solidly blue state like California, a vote for Cornell West literally means nothing because of the Electoral College. Arguably, if you're in a safe state like that, why not vote with your conscience? (I'm not here to make comment on West's politics, I don't follow him, I'm making a point about the Electoral College and Presidential elections)
I can understand having the attitude of "Well, there's not really a lot of safe options" when they're a swing state or hell even a red state (not a bad thing to try to make a dent against them on their own home turf), but it seems to be really talking down to a lot of Democrat voters who live in Democratic strongholds whose vote basically is meaningless because of the Electoral College but despite this they're being bullied into voting the Democrat choice for President.
Now, even in a blue state, voting matters locally and not just giving your vote out to just any Tom, Dick or Harry matters. But a Presidential election where we continue to use the Electoral College to decide the President and not the popular vote? That's just dismissive of the reality of how anti-Democratic the Electoral College actually is.
If it takes three paragraphs and your specific voting location to explain why your vote "technically" won't go to 45, maybe those people are right. The problem is that there are a LOT of people that don't understand the nuance and we have to plan for the lowest common denominator, otherwise people in actual swing states will see posts like your first one (lacking any explanation) and run with it. For them, a third party vote actually is helping 45.
Additionally, there's a decent argument to be made about total votes even though they don't "technically" decide the president. That number still matters and a lot of weight is thrown around with it. For all we know, this whole thing could hit the courts and having every advantage may be necessary to save our future.
The vote is counted for Cornell West. Not Trump.
Wheel of contrarianism turn turn turn, tell us the lesson that we should learn.
implying I'm a contrarian doesn't change the truth of how votes are tallied.
Being obnoxiously pedantic doesn't make you right either.
calling my position obnoxious and pedantic doesn't falsify my claims
How can you expect yourself to integrate well into any conversation when you're fixated on "well technically..."
If 99% of people colloquially agree that A = B, then it doesn't really matter if 'A' and 'B' are really the same thing if everybody knows what we're talking about. It's the most obnoxious shit when someone tries to argue in this way, and you're not convincing anybody or adding anything meaningful to the discussion.
if the entire country decided Israel isn't doing a genocide, I'm not going to agree.
That's not misinformation. That's just unfortunate and an indictment of our current elections system.
it's misinformation. votes for Cornel West only count for Cornel West. they do not count for Trump.
That is technically true, but practically not so much. The way our elections are currently run, there are 2 candidates (again this is the practical truth not the technical truth). When turnout is high democrats win, and voting 3rd party for president is essentially the same as not voting at all. That's what people mean, that unless it's a vote for Biden, then it's automatically a vote for Trump.
To be clear, I don't like this, it's incredibly stupid and I want to be able to vote for actually good candidates. But that is not the current reality in the states. Vote 3rd party in your local elections and campaign for them too. That's where it's still possible to make that happen and lay the ground work for better choices in the future.
but that's not true, in reality, at all.
saying it or implying it is misinformation
Is that the only part you read? There was a bit of explanation before that conclusion. You're going to have to address the substance of my argument if you're going to make a real counter argument. The reply you just gave me is 'nuh uh'
I'm not making a counter argument: I'm pointing out your argument is not true. I don't need an argument: you need to be truthful.
You being too dense to understand what they're saying doesn't make it misinformation.
I know what they're saying. they're being dishonest.