Musk and Trump also met earlier this month in Palm Beach, Florida, with a group of Republican donors.
Last year, former President Donald Trump allegedly tried to sell his social network Array Truth Social to Elon Musk, the world’s second-richest user and current owner of X, formerly known as Twitter.
Trump made the proposal to Musk in the summer of 2023, according to a report from The Washington Post, which cited two sources with knowledge of their meeting.
The idea appeared to have been Trump’s. Although no deal was made on the website, the reporting reveals that the two have communicated much more than was previously known, particularly on business matters but potentially on issues relating to politics as well.
Beyond the proposed sale of Truth Social, Musk and Trump met earlier this month in Palm Beach, Florida. The details of this meeting are murky, but there is speculation that it referred to the 2024 presidential election, in which well-known Republican donors also participated.
Unsubstantiated rumors about X suggesting Musk was going to donate or donate to Trump’s crusade were temporarily spread, prompting Musk to post on the site that he had no plans to donate to any of the primary presidential candidates.
Truth Social has faced turmoil since its inception. Initially touted as a bastion of laid-back discourse, the far-right, MAGA-friendly social network has been embroiled in a number of controversies, at one point adding banning accounts just for criticizing Trump.
Financially, the site has arguably fared even worse. In more recent reports on its performance, Truth Social announced that it lost tens of millions of dollars in the first nine months of 2023 alone.
Meanwhile, according to Buffer, a company that measures social media analytics, Truth Social doesn’t appear at all on its list of the 23 most sensible social networks. The only thing that makes this applicable turns out to be the fact that Trump uses it as his primary means of social communication.
While X is doing much better, it turns out that Musk is hindering the platform rather than improving it. In the fall of 2022, Musk bought the site, then known as Twitter, for $44 billion (with the help of wealthy backers, adding Saudi Arabia). Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud), after spending several months criticizing its regulations prohibiting harmful and false content. After purchasing the platform, Musk restored several far-right accounts, adding that of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Musk himself has also spread anti-Semitic content on the site. Although Musk claims to be an advocate of absolutely relaxed speech, the platform suspends accounts that criticize him.
Thanks to Musk’s leadership, X has noticed that its s has dropped significantly, with a January 2024 report revealing that the site has fallen 71. 5% since Musk took over.
Chris Walker is a news editor at Truthout and was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Focusing on national and local issues since the early 2000s, he has produced thousands of articles analyzing existing issues and their effect on the American people. He can be found on most social media platforms under the name @thatchriswalker.