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Tweets Aren’t Journalism, X Isn’t a News Site, and Elon Musk Is an Idiot - WhoWhatWhy
If users of the social media platform X really
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Elon Musk likes to brag that his social media platform X is the world’s top source of news and that its users “are the media now.” It’s tough to put in words how incredibly ridiculous that is.
But we’ll give it a shot.
First of all, it goes without saying that a bunch of right-wing influencers opining, spreading misinformation, and getting each other riled up isn’t “the news.”
And “Catturd,” “End Wokeness,” or “DogeDesigner,” i.e., some of the accounts Musk likes to amplify, are angry conservatives, not journalists.
To illustrate the point, let’s look at something that last dude posted on Saturday… a picture of Musk taking a photo at the newly restored Notre Dame cathedral with the words “Anyone can become a citizen journalist. You just need a mobile, internet and app.”
What that implies, of course, is that Musk himself is a “journalist.”
Let’s take a look at that statement.
It’s certainly true that Musk spreads a lot of information… like a journalist might. However, this is generally misinformation, half-truths, or some memes he wants to amplify.
To the billionaire, that may constitute news, but that’s obviously laughable. To be fair, there are times when his posts do contain news. However, in those cases, the sources aren’t random X users finding stuff out but rather (mostly conservative) news outlets that employ real journalists who get paid for their work.
The funny thing about it is that Musk is one of the world’s top newsmakers.
He is the world’s richest man, just helped Donald Trump win the presidency, seemingly hangs out with the future president 24/7, and is tasked with leading the largest government overhaul in a generation.
In other words, Musk knows some stuff, and a lot of it would be genuinely newsworthy.
So, does he use the world’s top news site so that he, too, can “be the media now?”
Hardly; and this is where these nonsensical claims fall apart.
On Saturday, for example, he could have tweeted about traveling to Paris with Trump. Actually, as a “citizen journalist” with unimaginable access, he could have interviewed the president elect and asked him some tough questions, for example whether he will help save taxpayers money (Musk’s stated goal) by no longer overcharging Secret Service agents staying at his properties.
That’s the kind of thing an actual journalist would have asked.
Here is another great example.
When real journalists at the Wall Street Journal reported that Musk was about to dump tens of millions of dollars into the 2024 election on behalf of Trump, the billionaire denied the accuracy of that story.
Previously, he had already made news by stating that he would not donate to either candidate.
Now, one may quibble over whether pumping a quarter million dollars into a super PAC supporting one candidate counts as a donation (or whether purchasing an entire social media platform for $44 billion to support that candidate’s viewpoints does). However, in any case, Musk had information that was newsworthy and lied about / did not divulge it.
Finally, as we reported, the billionaire recently admitted to throttling links to actual news stories.
Add it all up, and it should be plain for anybody to see that X is an misinfotainment site more than anything else and does not resemble a credible news outlet in any way; and giving Musk $8 every month for a blue checkmark doesn’t make you a journalist.
