In Elon Musk's own telling, his political views were shaped by X.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Musk said that videos circulating on X years ago depicting crowds of migrants sparked his fascination with right-wing politics and stronger border protections.
"I've seen videos of people streaming across the border on Twitter, now X," he said, citing politicized and sometimes misleading videos that have spread online about migrants. "And I was like, is this real?"
It was a stark example of the power X has to politicize its own users -- including the world's richest man -- using hyper partisan opinions and far-right media.
To better understand how the information that Musk consumes on X could shape his worldview, The New York Times re-created a version of Musk's personal feed by opening a new account on X and following the same 1,109 users that he follows. We then analysed more than 1,75,000 posts from the accounts that he follows, using a service that collects data from X.
Though there is no guarantee that Musk saw all of the posts captured by The New York Times, the accounts that he follows -- including world leaders and business tycoons alongside conspiracy theorists and far-right influencers -- reveal the voices that Musk appears to value. (The "Following" feed is different from the main "For You" feed, which includes posts from those he follows alongside others selected by X's algorithm.)
The resulting feed revealed ample praise for Musk and his various priorities, mixed with a torrent of right-wing outrage over progressive politics. It highlights the ways that social networks can create information bubbles. X declined to comment.
Those voices are mostly right-wing: Among tens of thousands of posts during a typical week, nearly half of them came from right-wing media figures, conservative influencers, Republican politicians or government leaders.
Those accounts included Chaya Raichik, whose X account, Libs of TikTok, has more than 4 million followers. Raichik's appearances on Musk's feed match her growing prominence offline: Her influence has exploded during the second Trump administration, and she has appeared at the White House multiple times this year, cementing her status as a top Trump advocate.
The accounts that Musk follows are also the ones he interacts with most on X, according to the Times' analysis, giving them a valuable boost on the platform since Musk is the site's most popular user, with more than 200 million followers.
That seems to give his followers the power to seize Musk's attention and could even redirect his policy goals. It is something they have noticed, with some users boasting they can catch Musk's attention with a well-timed post or question.
"Pretty amazing when the owner of a platform personally tells you he is fixing your problem in real time," Mario Nawfal, an influencer with more than 2 million followers, posted after Musk said he would fix an issue on X.
Some of the ideas that circulated on Musk's feed later emerged on the national stage.
President Donald Trump had claimed at an address to Congress that federal funds were used for "making mice transgender" -- a misleading description of various studies that tested the effect of hormone therapy on HIV infections and other side effects of the medication. The idea had gathered steam on X two months earlier, when a conservative-led animal advocacy group posted about it. The group's account is followed by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and by Musk, who had personally shared one of the posts.
Later, as Tesla vehicles and dealerships were vandalized or attacked in a violent reaction to Musk, his feed was filled with calls to charge the attackers with "domestic terrorism," giving the perpetrators 20-year prison sentences.
Musk agreed, calling attacks on Tesla's vehicles "extreme domestic terrorism!!" Days later, Trump repeated the idea, saying that he would enjoy seeing "the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences."
After a right-wing news aggregator claimed, incorrectly, that DOGE had blocked a $52 million payment for the World Economic Forum, Musk replied: "True. You're welcome." In reality, ending the program had saved $7.8 million.
Those inaccuracies have not stopped Musk from recommending the DOGE account to others -- he frequently promotes the accounts he follows to his own 219 million followers.
"Just follow @DOGE for details," Musk wrote in February. "There is a firehouse of information."
What Musk sees
Musk's Own Feed
Musk's personal feed on X includes anti-transgender, anti-immigration and conspiratorial posts alongside high praise for Musk and Trump.
Musk as Subject
Musk is a popular topic himself on X. The posts that come up are full of people defending Musk from supposedly unfair attacks or supporting his worldview.
DOGE Propaganda
The content on Musk's feed is a mirror of his own interests: As his role in the purported government cost-cutting grew, so did praise for those plans on X.
In a recent interview with Fox News, Musk said that videos circulating on X years ago depicting crowds of migrants sparked his fascination with right-wing politics and stronger border protections.
"I've seen videos of people streaming across the border on Twitter, now X," he said, citing politicized and sometimes misleading videos that have spread online about migrants. "And I was like, is this real?"
It was a stark example of the power X has to politicize its own users -- including the world's richest man -- using hyper partisan opinions and far-right media.
To better understand how the information that Musk consumes on X could shape his worldview, The New York Times re-created a version of Musk's personal feed by opening a new account on X and following the same 1,109 users that he follows. We then analysed more than 1,75,000 posts from the accounts that he follows, using a service that collects data from X.
Though there is no guarantee that Musk saw all of the posts captured by The New York Times, the accounts that he follows -- including world leaders and business tycoons alongside conspiracy theorists and far-right influencers -- reveal the voices that Musk appears to value. (The "Following" feed is different from the main "For You" feed, which includes posts from those he follows alongside others selected by X's algorithm.)
The resulting feed revealed ample praise for Musk and his various priorities, mixed with a torrent of right-wing outrage over progressive politics. It highlights the ways that social networks can create information bubbles. X declined to comment.
Those voices are mostly right-wing: Among tens of thousands of posts during a typical week, nearly half of them came from right-wing media figures, conservative influencers, Republican politicians or government leaders.
Those accounts included Chaya Raichik, whose X account, Libs of TikTok, has more than 4 million followers. Raichik's appearances on Musk's feed match her growing prominence offline: Her influence has exploded during the second Trump administration, and she has appeared at the White House multiple times this year, cementing her status as a top Trump advocate.
The accounts that Musk follows are also the ones he interacts with most on X, according to the Times' analysis, giving them a valuable boost on the platform since Musk is the site's most popular user, with more than 200 million followers.
That seems to give his followers the power to seize Musk's attention and could even redirect his policy goals. It is something they have noticed, with some users boasting they can catch Musk's attention with a well-timed post or question.
"Pretty amazing when the owner of a platform personally tells you he is fixing your problem in real time," Mario Nawfal, an influencer with more than 2 million followers, posted after Musk said he would fix an issue on X.
Some of the ideas that circulated on Musk's feed later emerged on the national stage.
President Donald Trump had claimed at an address to Congress that federal funds were used for "making mice transgender" -- a misleading description of various studies that tested the effect of hormone therapy on HIV infections and other side effects of the medication. The idea had gathered steam on X two months earlier, when a conservative-led animal advocacy group posted about it. The group's account is followed by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and by Musk, who had personally shared one of the posts.
Later, as Tesla vehicles and dealerships were vandalized or attacked in a violent reaction to Musk, his feed was filled with calls to charge the attackers with "domestic terrorism," giving the perpetrators 20-year prison sentences.
Musk agreed, calling attacks on Tesla's vehicles "extreme domestic terrorism!!" Days later, Trump repeated the idea, saying that he would enjoy seeing "the sick terrorist thugs get 20 year jail sentences."
After a right-wing news aggregator claimed, incorrectly, that DOGE had blocked a $52 million payment for the World Economic Forum, Musk replied: "True. You're welcome." In reality, ending the program had saved $7.8 million.
Those inaccuracies have not stopped Musk from recommending the DOGE account to others -- he frequently promotes the accounts he follows to his own 219 million followers.
"Just follow @DOGE for details," Musk wrote in February. "There is a firehouse of information."
What Musk sees
Musk's Own Feed
Musk's personal feed on X includes anti-transgender, anti-immigration and conspiratorial posts alongside high praise for Musk and Trump.
Musk as Subject
Musk is a popular topic himself on X. The posts that come up are full of people defending Musk from supposedly unfair attacks or supporting his worldview.
DOGE Propaganda
The content on Musk's feed is a mirror of his own interests: As his role in the purported government cost-cutting grew, so did praise for those plans on X.
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