This was the year Elon Musk took up politics

“I think he realized that what big tech companies had spent decades worrying about, which was basically how to moderate or how to regulate speech on this crazy scale, is that this is not a problem,” Magalhaes says. “This is an opportunity for him.”

Since the election, Musk has not disappeared into the shadows, content with behind-the-scenes meetings and secret influence. Alternatively, join calls with Foreign leadersweighed in Concerning personnel choices in the new administrationHe threatened to use his America PAC Fund primary challenges against lawmakers who don’t support Trump’s (and his) agenda..

In November, Trump announced that Musk would co-lead a new federal advisory committee called the Commission Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, like memecoin)responsible for cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget. (Eliminating all federal discretionary spending, including defense spending, It will not achieve this goal.) The committee doesn’t exist yet, but Musk has already used his presence at X and this new, if ambiguous, government-adjacent position to dictate policy. Perhaps not coincidentally, on paper, it is Estimated wealth It reportedly increased by about $170 billion after the election.

“He has parlayed (his ownership of “It would be the scariest thing that could happen, if a lot of these platforms got that signal from Musk.”

Early returns suggest other technology leaders are likely to follow suit. Meta mark zuckerberg and Amazon Jeff Bezos He owns Visited Mar-a-Lago To kiss the ring. Meta officials say Zuckerberg wants it Take an “active role” In helping shape the Trump administration’s technology policies.

“Every time there’s a new government, big capitalism and big money try to put themselves in a position to take advantage of it. And I think that’s what they’re doing,” Magalhaes says. Musk’s use of X for overt political purposes may lead the Trump administration to expect Similar behaviors from other companies “I think in that sense it’s a scheme.”

Clearly, Musk’s ambitions are not limited to the United States. Since the elections, it has been like that He visited the UK to meet far-right politicians thereand He announced his support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.. Earlier this year, Try to challenge the court order In Brazil, the court asked X to remove some far-right accounts that the court said undermined the integrity of the country’s elections.

All of this means that Musk’s control over politics is not just about his proximity to Trump. Even if there is an expected blow-up between the two giant egos, Musk’s influence will be felt in the new warmth between Silicon Valley and the MAGA movement, and in whatever part of the world he chooses to cast a glance.

In a way, it’s a return to familiar ground. Even before Twitter bought it in 2022, Musk was a power user, and one of the most followed people on the platform. His tweets could affect the stock prices of his other companies, Especially Teslaand His favorite memecoin, Dogecoin. Likewise, Trump was an active Twitter user before becoming president, and during his first presidency, He was notorious for making policy by tweet. It now appears that the next four years, at least, could see more management through social media posts, only now through a different label.