Roy Shinar Cohen
When Trump joined X this week, he was not simply returning to the same Twitter from which he was banned in 2021 for inciting violence. Rather, he steps onto a platform reformed. X, which has since been bought by entrepreneur-turned-political-commentator Elon Musk, stands accused of much the same crime. Throughout August the platform and its owner worsened the violent riots in the UK by not removing content and amplifying conspiracy theories. The contrast between Twitter and X will make Trump more dangerous than ever. With the former he incited insurrection, and we should all be afraid of what he will be able to do with the latter.
In retrospect, it is easy to forget the minute details of the crazy election period of 2020. After months of attempting to influence and overturn the election with unique creativity, MAGA-lawyers came up with a fantasy plan to not certify the election results on January 6th, 2021. Outside the Capitol, where the certification took place, Trump spoke for over an hour at the “Stop the Steal” rally to which people were asked in advance to come armed. The President said, “You don't concede when there's theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore". He added, "If you don't fight like hell you're not going to have a country anymore". And finally cried, “We are going to the Capitol.”
As we know, Trump did not join the mob’s march up Capitol Hill (although he wanted to). Instead, the President of the United States “gleefully” watched the unfolding events on television, and, according to the January 6th Select Committee, “refused to act”. Throughout the insurrection, Trump continued to claim the election was stolen and waited for several hours to call on the mob to leave the Capitol. In the same message, he told the mob he loved them.
Soon after, President Trump was banned from Twitter “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”. Today, Trump is again the Republican nominee and, in many ways, more dangerous than in 2020. Trump has not only continued to spread disinformation about the 2020 election being stolen but lies about the 2024 election at an even higher rate. He said would “free” the people who participated in the January 6th insurrection and promised to be his supporters’ “retribution”. Finally, he has repeatedly used violent language — such as immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” and has warned of a “bloodbath” if Biden had won — which sets the stage for further political violence.
In parallel, in October 2022, when Trump was still in political exile, Billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter, the most important political discussion platform. Since its launch in 2006, Twitter has gradually grown to be the chosen location for journalists to first announce scoops, and for politicians to announce career changing decision. This was apparent when President Biden announced what was possibly the most difficult decision of his life, quitting the Presidential race, in a short letter posted to his account. This means that Twitter is not merely a social network used by millions of people, but the public discussion space on some of the most consequential issues of the day.
After taking control, Musk swiftly changed the platform’s culture, rules and name. Frequent Twitter-turned-X users instantly noticed the substantial changes he has made. He has effectively deregulated X and reinstated blocked accounts, which in itself is a problem. However, this was followed by changing the platform’s algorithms to prioritize his own (and possibly other) content by a factor of as much as 10, and censoring some content for political purposes. These changes brought back many users, except possibly the most important one - Donald Trump, who continued using Truth Social. In many ways, X is so much worse than Twitter that treating them as one white-washes Musk’s harm. This harm is evident in many cases, as was seen in the United Kingdom in recent weeks.
A young Welsh man attacked and killed multiple children on July 29th, which quickly led to rumors and misinformation online. Claims that the attacker was an asylum seeker, or a person of color sent far-right groups into a violent frenzy, hitting hotels housing asylum seekers, mosques and the police. Not only did X not remove misinformation (as other platforms did) but for some reason, Musk decided to insert himself into the chaos. The platform’s owner (who boosts his own posts) amplified propaganda and conspiracy theories, including that the UK’s justice system is biased, claimed civil war is imminent and retweeted a picture of Prime Minister Starmer in a Nazi uniform.
If a similar event were to happen in the United States, Musk is sure to take a bolder stance. Since purchasing X, he has reinstated many US-based accounts that were banned for spreading misinformation or promoting violence. As we just saw in the UK, this should be considered as laying the groundwork for violence. Last month Musk endorsed Trump and since has regularly posted about politics, and on August 12th he interviewed Trump on X which marked the former President’s “return to the platform”.
The combination of Trump —who is constantly lying, is struggling to get media attention and is no longer leading in the polls — with Musk and X should be taken as a serious risk. In the past, Trump has used Twitter, a weaker and safer platform, to undermine American democracy and lead to an insurrection. In the present, X amplifies disinformation and spreads violence worldwide. Each of these is dangerous enough, as has been repeatedly proven, and their combination, which has never been tested, could be catastrophic.
