X, the social media platform owned by Trump megadonor Elon Musk, is promoting Trump campaign-curated content to all U.S. users, regardless of whether they have opted out of Trump-related content.
On the platform formerly known as Twitter, banner ads for the Trump campaign donning the #Trump2024 tag appear for all U.S. users, even those who’ve blocked words, topics, and hashtags related to the candidate or his campaign or muted the advertiser.
Additionally, the #MAGA tag displays an edited image of the former president from his attempted assassination and the #Trump2024 hashtag displays an American flag.
It is unclear whether the Trump campaign paid for the images on the #Trump2024 and #MAGA tags, though an advertisement for the tag on the site’s trending page reads “Promoted by Team Trump.” As Mashable noted, it is the first time the platform has enabled the image feature to promote a specific political candidate.
Clicking the Trump2024 tag also prompts American flag graphics to flood the screen.
So the whole Twitter acquisition hullabaloo was all about electing more tax breaks after all wasn’t it. And here I was thinking it was perhaps about the ability to do some more sophisticated propaganda or just because of Elon’s pure stupidity.
You’re giving him too much credit. Influencing elections is an incidental benefit to the real purpose. Which is that now Elon gets to ban anyone who disagrees with him on Twitter.