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ABC NewsVideoLiveShows538ShopLog InStream onElection officials, concerned about misinformation, confront Elon Musk on his own turfBut their reach on X pales in comparison to Musk's 200 million followers.ByLaura Romero and Lucien BruggemanOctober 24, 2024, 5:13 AM9:23Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X looks on during the Milken Conference 2024 Global Conference Sessions at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., May 6, 2024.  David Swanson/Reuters/FILEOn a recent Sunday night in Virginia, Henrico County registrar Mark Coakley was waiting for the start of the Cowboys-Steelers NFL game that was delayed due to inclement weather.Coakley was scanning X, formerly known as Twitter, when he came across a post by the platform's billionaire owner, Elon Musk, who is a vocal Trump supporter. Musk had reposted a tweet from 2023 that falsely claimed that "election integrity leaders in Virginia" found fraudulent votes in Henrico County from the 2020 election."Is this accurate @CommunityNotes?" Musk posted in conjunction with the tweet, engaging X's Community Notes feature that allows users themselves to fact check a tweet.MORE: DOJ warns Elon Musk his $1M giveaway to registered voters may violate federal lawCoakley, the county's top election official, scrambled to respond. On Monday morning, the Henrico County's X account debunked the premise of Musk's posts in a five-post thread."They were uninformed tweets," Coakley recalled in an interview with ABC News. "Media was calling, friends were calling me."The challenge for Coakley: While Musk's initial post has garnered 27.7 million views, Coakley's response has received fewer than 100,000. It's a contemporary spin on the old adage that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.As Musk has continued to promote false and misleading election information on X, election officials have increasingly confronted him on his own platform. But their reach typically pales in comparison to Musk's 200 million followers.Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X looks on during the Milken Conference 2024 Global Conference Sessions at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., May 6, 2024.David Swanson/Reuters/FILE"It's just not a fair battle," said Larry Norden, a voting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit think tank.In Philadelphia, Musk reposted a tweet suggesting that 5,200 voters had registered with the same address. "This is crazy," Musk commented.Seth Bluestein, a Philadelphia County Commissioner, replied hours later, tweeting, "The post you shared is spreading disinformation."But while Musk's initial tweet drew nearly 10 million views, Bluestein's response garnered fewer than 10,000.Even some Republican officials have confronted Musk on X. Stephen Richer, the GOP recorder in Maricopa County, Arizona, has regularly quarreled with Musk online over alleged election misinformation targeting the state -- and has even offered to connect with Musk in person."On every previous post you've made about Arizona elections (all of which have been wrong, but you've never corrected any of them), I've offered my office as a resource to you (and anyone) who wants actual answers to these questions," Richer told Musk in a post in September.MORE: Elon Musk pushes false conspiracies about voting machines during swing state town hallSam Woolley, a disinformation researcher at the University of Pittsburgh, said Musk has treated X as his own "bully pulpit" to support Trump and denigrate the election system since taking control of the company in 2022."This is certainly a case of a very powerful individual using not only his ownership of the platform but also his ability to control massive swaths of engagement on the platform for his own benefit and for the benefit of his political allies," Woolley said.Not only are the misinformation narratives promoted by Musk "corrosive to democracy," Norden said, but the time and energy required to rebut them might actually undermine election officials' ability to execute their other election-related work."It's distracting," Norden said. "We are putting a huge load on election officials, and if, on top of that, they have to respond to a guy who boosts his own content on his own network to spread lies, it's distracting from the essential work that they need to do. That is troubling."Musk did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.MORE: Mark Cuban says he proposed Elon Musk meet Harris, but her team declinedDespite the enormous online reach of the world's richest man, at least one election official has managed to match it: Jocelyn Benson, the secretary of state in Michigan.After Musk suggested on X that there are more registered voters in the state than eligible voters, Benson shot back."Let's be clear: @elonmusk is spreading dangerous disinformation," Benson wrote. "Here are the facts: There aren't more voters than citizens in Michigan. There are 7.2 million active registered voters and 7.9 citizens of voting age in our state."Musk's initial retweet received some 32 million views.But Benson's response topped it, getting 33.5 million.Related TopicsElon Musk2024 ElectionsPopular ReadsDelta plane crashes, overturns in Toronto; all survive, officials sayFeb 17, 8:50 PMTrump 2nd term updates: Trump attends the Super BowlFeb 9, 7:18 PMTrump 2nd term live updates: Pence calls out Trump for saying Ukraine started war2 hours agoElon Musk's latest move involves millions of Americans' personal tax details: SourcesFeb 17, 9:48 AMABC News Live24/7 coverage of breaking news and live eventsABC News NetworkAbout Nielsen MeasurementChildren's Online Privacy PolicyContact UsDo Not Sell or Share My Personal InformationInterest-Based AdsPrivacy PolicyTerms of UseYour US State Privacy Rights © 2025 ABC News




You’re pretty naive if you think all 200 million are real or even active accounts