Elon Musk endorsed former President Donald J. Trump for president a speedy 30 minutes after Mr. Trump hit the ground after a shot to the ear in a shocking assassination attempt on July 13, 2024, writing on his platform, X, “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.” On July 21, Joe Biden took to X to post his letter of withdrawal, declaring that he would no longer seek reelection in the 2024 presidential election.

The Role of X in Politics

This is a testament to X’s uniqueness in terms of social media’s place in politics, and vice versa. In a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, key findings show that most U.S. users say that they see at least one form of news-related content on TikTok (90%), Facebook (91%), Instagram (82%), and X (92%) with a range of 10 percentage points.

X vs. Other Platforms

Despite this relative consistency, the percentage of U.S. users of each social media platform who say that getting news is a major or minor reason they use the platform immensely favors X:

• TikTok: 41% use it as a news source.

• Facebook: 37% use it as a news source.

• Instagram: 33% use it as a news source.

• X: 65% use it as a news source.

Despite Musk’s endorsement of Donald Trump, X remains a preferred platform across the political spectrum. Joe Biden’s announcement makes it clear that Democrats won’t be leaving X anytime soon. It is, in fact, “where history happens,” according to X CEO Linda Yaccarino, in response to Biden’s post.

Also posting on the matter was X Data, with an infographic titled “History Happens on X,” showing the number of global impressions on Biden’s decision, reaching 3.2 billion at 13 hours after his post (2 AM EST).

Changes Under Musk’s Leadership

Yet, we must acknowledge another important point: Since Musk’s 2022 acquisition of the platform, X has become less reliable in terms of where to find accurate information.

Policy Changes

Since 2022, Musk has effectively overturned many of Twitter’s policies enacted under former owner Jack Dorsey, including those targeting:

• Misinformation

• Expressions of political extremism

• Hate speech

He got rid of Twitter’s signature blue bird logo, its Trust and Safety advisory group, and its verification systems, in addition to parting with the platform’s growing content moderation.

Staff Layoffs and Platform Impact

Musk practically cleaned out offices, firing massive amounts of staff, including the CEO and other top executives. This staff layoff also included engineers who kept the platform up and running, moderators who kept the site free from being overrun by hate speech, as well as other apparently crucial programming teams.

The Future of X in Politics and Social Media

In 2023, Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg said that “X has driven away users, advertisers, and now it has lost its primary value proposition in the social media world: Being a central hub for news.”

Ad dollars have shifted away from X and toward Meta and YouTube platforms, especially as content becomes more extreme, rendering it incompatible with general consumption.

Mark Jablonowski, chief technology officer of DSPolitical, a digital advertising firm working for Democratic campaigns, notes that while political campaigns must meet voters where they are, which in part is on X, that does not mean the same for marketing.

“It is an effective way of rapidly getting a message out to a large and influential group of people,” Jablonowski says of X, “however, that group is clearly waning.”

Politics and social media have come to a head, but it is only a matter of time before we can see whether this inaugurates a new use (or lack thereof) of social media as a political tool and/or as a social networking platform, and whether these can coexist in the long run.