“I think they realized that big tech companies have worried for decades about how to regulate or organize speech on this crazy scale, isn't it a problem,” Magalhaes says. “This is an opportunity for him.”
Since the election, Musk has not retreated into the shadows, content with behind-the-scenes meetings and covert influence. Instead, he has joined the call foreign leaderweighed in On staff selection for the new administrationAnd threatened to use US PAC Fund primary challenges against lawmakers who don't support Trump (and his) agenda,
In November, Trump announced that Musk would co-lead a new federal advisory committee called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, like Memecoin)Responsible for cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget. (Eliminating all discretionary federal spending, including defense, This goal will not be achieved.) The committee doesn't exist yet, but Musk has already used its presence on X and this new government-adjacent, if vague, situation to set policy. Perhaps not coincidentally, on paper, his estimated money It reportedly increased by about $170 billion after the election.
“He is admired [his ownership of X] In a government position where his ability to influence policy that affects all his business interests is tremendous. And that could have huge financial benefits,” says Phil Napoli, a professor of public policy at Duke University. “I think that would be the scariest thing that could happen, if a lot of these platforms take the cue from Musk.”
Early returns suggest other tech leaders are likely to follow suit. Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos of Amazon to pass Visited Mar-a-Lago To kiss the ring. Meta officials say Zuckerberg wants this Take an “active role” Helping shape the Trump administration's technology policies.
“Every time a new government comes, big capitalism, big money, tries to put itself in a position to benefit from it. And I think that's what they're doing,” Magalhaes says. He says Musk's use of X for clearly political purposes could lead the Trump administration to expect similar behavior from other companies. “I think in that sense it's a blueprint.”
Musk's ambitions are clearly not limited to the US. Since the election he has Visited Britain to meet far-right politicians there And Posted about his support for the far-right German party, Alternative for Germanyearlier this year He tried to disobey the court order In Brazil, X was required to remove certain far-right accounts that the court said were undermining the integrity of the country's elections.
All this means that Musk's control over politics is not just a matter of his proximity to Trump. Even if the much-anticipated implosion of the two titanic egos does occur, Musk's influence will be felt in the new camaraderie among Silicon Valley and the MAGA movement, and in any part of the world he might care to cast his eye over.
In a way, it's a return to familiar ground. Even before buying Twitter in 2022, Musk was a super user, becoming one of the most followed people on the platform. His tweets can affect the stock prices of his other companies, especially teslaAnd His favorite memecoin, DogecoinSimilarly, Trump was an active Twitter user before becoming president and during his first presidency. He was notorious for making policy by tweetIt now appears that the next four years, at least, may see more governance by social media posts – now only by a different nonsense poster.