Coverage of a damning altercation between Donald Trump’s campaign and staff at the Arlington National Cemetery was briefly censored by Elon Musk’s X on Thursday morning, amplifying concerns surrounding the platform’s role in burying anti-Trump content, as its owner embraces the candidate.
An article, which ran on NPR with the headline “Army says Arlington National Cemetery worker was 'pushed aside' by Trump aides,” contains a statement from the Army condemning the Trump campaign for its actions, later flagged with a warning from X reading, “this article may be unsafe,” per a screenshot circulating on the platform.
when you try to read this NPR story, you get this popup https://t.co/fxziajbKZF pic.twitter.com/bdUN4818W4
— paris martineau (@parismartineau) August 29, 2024
The article, which was shared on the account of reporter Stephen Fowler, as NPR elected to stop sharing content on X last year when the publication was designated a “state-affiliated media” group by Musk, was further addressed in a response from X, stating that the label was a “false positive.” But it’s not the first time in recent weeks that X has limited the reach of anti-Trump and pro-Harris content. The platform faced scrutiny last month for suspending pro-Harris account “White Dudes for Harris,” a group that raised over $4 million for the candidate during a July Zoom meeting
Musk, who previously used the X platform to advertise pro-Trump tags to all U.S. users, has pledged tens of millions of dollars in monthly contributions to Trump’s re-election effort, enlisting a personal Republican political consultant and founding a PAC that was caught misdirecting hopeful swing state voters.
Musk’s platform has also enlisted moderation tools to attack the use of words like “cisgender” on the platform, and reduced blocks on electoral misinformation, including claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Still, critics note that filters against hate speech have been weakened, and the use of political content containing stolen and deep-faked photos remains prevalent.
