Elon Musk continues to reinforce his political leanings, with the current Chief Twit, set to host a Twitter Spaces chat with Republican Governor Ron DeSantis will officially launch his 2024 US Presidential Campaign.
Musk has already pledged his support for DeSantis, saying back in November that he views DeSantis as a ‘sensible and centrist’ candidate. Musk has also increasingly leaned towards Republican viewpoints in his own Tweets, and his actions in managing Twitter, sharing various news reports and perspectives with his 140+ million followers.
About To Get Political
Musk’s endorsement will be a key launch pad for DeSantis, with the influential billionaire holding major sway with many voters. Musk also now controls one of the key platforms for news dissemination, and DeSantis will likely make a central focus of his campaign as a result, similar to how former President Donal Trump leaned on Twitter for his announcements and updates.
Despite having way fewer total users than the other big platforms, Twitter’s real-time focus of the app means that it’s still a key source for news dissemination, with many journalists and other influential voices staying up to speed on Twitter, then re-sharing the same content onto other publications and platforms. In this sense, Twitter’s influence is often underrated – reduced by the recent changes in the app, however.
The majority of 660,000 Twitter Blue subscribers are more ideologically aligned with Musk’s views, and with Twitter essentially restructuring its algorithm to prioritize replies from paying users, Twitter is slowly becoming more dominated by voices from just one side of the political spectrum. While Musk himself claims to be a centrist voter, his stances have also increasingly leaned right, which has further guided the platform in this direction.
Republican voters would say that this was a necessary correction, as Twitter, under previous management, had leaned too far to the left, and had angled its rules around more left-leaning stances. Now, ideally, Twitter is more open to broader political debate – though with the chief of the platform hosting a Republican campaign launch, it seems like a pretty clear indicator that some level of bias remains.
Regardless, the DeSantis chat will bring, even for only a limited time, more focus to Twitter, which is Musk’s main aim, while it’ll also help to keep the app at the center of the upcoming Presidential campaign.
The Wrap
Political leanings aside, getting the platform more involved in the race only spells good for Twitter usage, and ensures that it remains an important platform for debate. However, at the same time, having the Chief blatantly show support for one candidate over all the others does seem like a risky proposition, at least in terms of platform bias and control.
Maybe Musk will balance this out with a similar chat with a left-leaning candidate, maybe the new incoming Twitter CEO will take a different perspective in her management of the app. Either way, right now, Musk’s using every ounce of his $44 purchase to basically amplify his political views.
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