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Elon Musk has taken the @America handle on X from a user to promote his PAC that is pushing to get Donald Trump elected in next month’s presidential race.
The billionaire, who appeared alongside Trump at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, has changed his bio on X to direct followers to the account. “Read @America to understand why I’m supporting Trump for President,” it now reads.
The page was launched the same day Musk gave a speech at Trump’s rally on October 5.
The previous owner of the @America handle appears to have been inactive since 2020 and has been reassigned @America123_12 instead.
One of the first posts to appear on Musk’s @America page says: “There is only one candidate in this race who is on the right side of these issues: Donald J. Trump.” But the world’s richest person once declared the app “must be politically neutral,” leading to accusations he has turned X into a “pro-MAGA” platform.
“So the claim from Elon that X would be for both sides was just, BS,” someone responded. “It’s a pro-MAGA platform now. Why can’t he say it?”
“The ‘America’ handle is now run by Elon Musk’s PAC,” one person responded. “And it is already trying to turn people against their neighbors by stirring fears about immigrants.”
Musk’s company is permitted to reclaim usernames, according to its policies, and if a user has not logged in for over 30 days, an account may be considered inactive by the platform.
The original @America user has not yet commented, but the move by Musk is similar to when he seized the handle @X from its former owner, Gene X. Hwang. “[I] got an email basically saying they are taking it,” he said.
Musk said he plans to commit around $45 million a month to the super PAC backing Trump, the Washington Post reported earlier this year. Its backers reportedly include Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale and the Winklevoss twins, according to the newspaper.
Musk, the CEO of X and Tesla, spoke during Trump’s rally on Saturday where he made the brazenly false claim that Democrats were planning to eliminate elections in the US.
Trump — returning to the site where he was nearly assassinated in July — introduced Musk as the man who “saved free speech“ and as a “rocket builder,” claiming his company Space X was the only reason that American astronauts can return to space.
“I think this election is the most important election of our lifetime. This is no ordinary election,” Musk said. “President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America. This is a must win situation, must win.”
He then launched into a rambling appeal to Americans, asking them to register to vote, and made the brazenly baseless claim that Democrats were going to eliminate elections in America.
“Like, text people [to register to vote] now. Now. And then make sure they actually do vote,” he said.
The Independent has contacted X for comment.
