Brocki said the political moment marked a “return to relevance” for X — a platform that saw an exodus of left-leaning users after Musk acquired the service. X, meanwhile, was delighted to receive the attention it received hours after the shooting, posting the words “Global Town Square”.
Musk reached out to X on Saturday to officially endorse former President Donald Trump's candidacy after the shooting, as did billionaire hedge fund owner Bill Aikman, a longtime supporter of the Democratic candidate who is running on President Biden. They have been criticizing. Members of Musk's inner circle, including venture capitalists David Sachs and Sean Maguire, have thrown their weight behind Trump in recent months, but Musk has appeared withdrawn. Like Aikman, he endorsed Biden in 2020, and the two men's transition underscores how significantly the political landscape in business and tech has changed in just a few years.
Musk, turning to his familiar refrain, appeared to point the finger at security breaches at diversity, equality and inclusion efforts — amplifying a post that mocked the director of the US Secret Service. It was called “diversity hires.” Many right-wing political accounts have been argued, which have also invoked individual female Secret Service agents. Musk has previously directed this argument at the airline industry, decrying that diversification efforts have left the skies less safe, news outlets reported.
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“This insane DIE policy needs to be changed to bring down one plane and kill hundreds of people,” Musk wrote.
Musk, along with Sachs — an investor friend, podcast host and Trump supporter — used the platform to smear influential Democrat and fellow Silicon Valley titan Reid Hoffman.
Musk poked fun at Hoffman, referring to a spat that took place earlier in the week between Hoffman and billionaire investor Peter Thiel at an Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
While on stage at the conference, Hoffman reportedly took Thiel to task for supporting Trump in the previous election. According to the outlet pick, Thiel sarcastically thanked Hoffman for funding against Trump because he had made him a “martyr,” increasing his reelection odds. Hoffman then replied, “Yeah, I wish I'd made it one real Martyr.”
“The Reid Hoffmans of the world got their fondest wish … but then the martyr lived on,” Musk wrote in a post on Saturday that received nearly 24 million views.
Sachs, the “All In” podcast host who endorsed Trump earlier this year after endorsing several rival candidates, recently held a fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco (Musk did not attend ). Sacks also took Hoffman to task for his martyrdom comment.
Hoffman condemned political violence in a statement posted to X on Sunday and said his words had been taken out of context. Hoffman said he told Thiel that he “would like Trump to martyr himself — that is, hold himself accountable — for his attacks on women and his lies.” Of course I did not mean any kind of physical harm or violence, which I categorically condemn.
As of Sunday afternoon, the post had been viewed nearly a million times, a fraction of the reach for Musk's original claim.
Musk, who has been encouraged by his inner circle to endorse Trump but has wavered until recently, is the most followed person on his platform with nearly 190 million followers.
But even as Twitter has emerged as a powerful destination for people to seek information and perspective during a tumultuous political moment, changes to the platform since Musk took office have made accurate information more difficult. made it more difficult to find, Brocki noted.
Users can now pay for blue badges – once badges used to identify public figures and journalists – making it more difficult to trace the source of claims on the platform. The word “staged” and other topics related to conspiracy theories also trended. “It's a very polluted information environment,” he said.
In a post viewed by nearly 70 million users, Musk called the Secret Service's actions “incompetent or deliberate” and called for the agency's leaders to resign.
After Ackman issued his endorsement, Musk then reposted his message, as did Maguire, a venture capitalist with Sequoia Capital and a friend of Musk's, who praised “people who come up with new data.” They are ready to change their minds.”
Maguire later posted — without providing evidence — that the shooter “will almost certainly be found to be a member of the left-wing group Antifa.”
Authorities have identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., the Washington Post reported. Voter status records show he was registered as a Republican.
Musk did not respond to a request for comment.
Hoffman and Maguire declined requests for interviews. The sacks did not respond to a request for comment.
On X, right-leaning venture capitalists and entrepreneurs posted that the mood had shifted decidedly toward the former president. Some said yesterday's attack would give people on the fence in liberal Silicon Valley greater permission to openly support Trump.
“People are casually walking around SF with Trump hats on,” one executive wrote. “Something has changed.”
Kate Zakrzewski contributed reporting.