How Elon Musk Amplified the Suspected Russian Election Interference Plot

As Elon Musk has become increasingly vocal on political issues over the past few years, he has leveraged his massive following on his social media app X to repeatedly amplify content from a company that is apparently at the center of an alleged Russian covert operation to manipulate U.S. public opinion ahead of the 2024 election.

Musk, one of the richest men in the world, boosted the popularity of content from Tenet Media-affiliated creators and accounts by at least 60 times by sharing posts from the operation and exchanging responses with paid Tenet experts on X.

Musk’s posts, shared with his 198 million followers, portrayed conservative, pro-Russian views to tens of millions of viewers, according to viewership data released by X. Musk apparently had no idea about the alleged Russian money behind the operation.

An earlier NBC News analysis of the Tenet films, combined with details from government indictments, showed how the company was bolstering support from conservatives who had already embraced many of the policies favored by former President Donald Trump and Russia, consistent with the country’s broader propaganda goals.

In July, Musk retweeted a post from his Tenet Media account defending Republican presidential candidate Trump’s comments that he “wouldn’t have to vote anymore” if Trump returned to the White House. Musk’s share of the post has been viewed 28 million times, according to X.

Tenet Media has clearly courted Musk’s attention, posting about Musk or tagging his account more than 50 times since the media company launched last November, often about Trump and the presidential election.

Tenet launched last year as a sort of out-of-nowhere supergroup for conservative pundits, combining established podcasters like Dave Rubin and Benny Johnson with younger, less experienced influencers.

Tenet has stopped publishing new material since federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment on Sept. 4 accusing two employees of the Russian-backed media network RT of running a $10 million scheme to launder pro-Russian views through conservative American commentators. FBI Director Christopher Wray said the operation was an attempt to “deceive Americans into unknowingly consuming foreign propaganda.”

Tenet and its team of experts were not named in the indictment, but Tenet’s roster fits the description of a media company that called itself “a network of heterodox commentators who focus on Western political and cultural issues.” Since the indictment was released, many prominent Tenet creators have spoken out, calling themselves “victims.”

If the allegations in the indictment are proven true (or similar), Musk will be a high-profile example of how Russian-linked entities were able to trick victims into interacting with and sharing their content.

Musk can attract a ton of attention to the account with his posts, since he has the most followers on X. And even a reply from him can boost another account’s popularity, since replies sometimes appear in people’s news feeds.

Musk also shared Russia-related talking points outside the context of the conspiracy alleged in the recent indictment, according to a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Tuesday. Citing records of the Russian disinformation campaign, the news outlet said an internet meme demeaning Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, shared on X last year by Musk, was created by a Moscow-based company called Social Design Agency.

Musk did not respond to an email sent Tuesday asking about the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty report and his sharing of Tenet Media content. X representatives also did not respond to a request for comment about Musk or X’s handling of Tenet content.

In posts on X, Musk seemed unconcerned about Russian influence operations. On the day the Tenet Media indictment was announced, Musk responded with a “tears of joy” emoji to another user’s unproven theory that a secret project may have failed, causing infighting among conservatives.

A day after the indictment was dropped, Musk accused the Associated Press of promoting anti-Trump “propaganda” in its coverage of Tenet Media. And he posted in defense of the right-wing podcasters Tenet had detained, agreeing with fellow conservative commentator Ben Shapiro that the men had been duped.

Other commentators have accused those paid by Tenet of being too easily fooled and not asking enough questions of those they pay.

Josephine Lukito, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin who studies Russian disinformation, said the way Musk amplifies Tenet’s content fits the pattern of a tech billionaire.

“As the owner of a social media platform, Musk certainly should be doing more fact-checking of the content he shares. However, I’m not surprised that he doesn’t apologize for it, as Musk has shared misleading or inaccurate information in the past without seeming to care,” Lukito said in an email. (Musk has shared misleading claims about anti-Muslim riots in the U.K. and inaccurate information about voting, for example.)

“At this point, we should expect this to be the norm for Musk, not the exception to his activities,” she said.

Musk often responded to or reposted content from three conservative pundits previously paid by Tenet: Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson. From Tenet Media’s public launch in November 2023 until the indictment, Musk interacted with Pool’s account at least 32 times, Rubin’s at least 11 times, and Johnson’s at least nine times, according to an X-Files search. He did so on a wide range of topics, including immigration, presidential politics, and homelessness.

Tech platforms are divided on what to do with the Tenet catalog of videos. YouTube and Meta have removed Tenet accounts, citing their policies against misinformation, while X and right-wing video platform Rumble have left Tenet content up.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is scheduled to address foreign threats to the election at a hearing Wednesday afternoon. Among the scheduled witnesses are executives from Alphabet, Google’s parent company, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and Microsoft. Representative X was not present at the hearing because the company “refused to send a qualified witness,” a representative for Sen. Mark R. Warner, the Democratic chairman of the committee, said in an emailed statement to CNBC. The hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET.

Given Musk’s position, his amplification of Tenet Media content seems unusual. NBC News searched for other celebrities who shared Tenet Media content and found no other major tech CEOs or celebrities who did so to the same extent.

Musk is comfortable with the conservative media ecology and has helped to advance it, including by allowing previously suspended accounts to be reused on the X app since he bought it two years ago, said Martin Riedl, an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

“Musk’s position in the far-right online community is unique,” ​​he wrote in an email.

In August, Musk responded with a “!!” to a Tenet post on X criticizing NASA’s diversity training. That Tenet post has received 1.9 million views, significantly more than typical Tenet posts, though it’s impossible to tell how much Musk helped. In April, Musk responded with a monocle emoji to a Tenet video about “ecoterrorism.”

Musk has used his influence to draw attention to some of the individual Tenet creators. In mid-August, Musk exchanged views with then-Tenet Media pundit Lauren Southern, who began by saying that most people misunderstand Musk and Trump.

“Anyone who thinks the media is real is an idiot,” Musk replied, gaining more than 647,000 views.

“A lot of work needs to be done to reverse this brain disease,” Southern wrote back.

“Indeed, a lot of work. And in Europe it’s much worse. People there really believe the media!” Musk replied.

Southern and other commentators previously employed by Tenet Media have said they did nothing wrong. The indictment says they did not know they were being paid by Russian sources and that they were deceived about their sources.