Elon Musk’s disdain for the Democratic Party was never subtle, but in recent weeks his commentary on the upcoming US presidential election and his attacks against Vice President Kamala Harris have intensified, aided by a crude use of burgeoning artificial intelligence technology.
On Monday, Musk posted an AI-generated image on his social media platform that depicted Harris as a communist, wearing a red uniform complete with a hammer and sickle emblazoned hat.
Musk, who has endorsed former President Donald Trump for president and poured millions into a super PAC supporting the Republican, captioned the image with the false assertion, “Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one. Can you believe she wears that outfit!?”
The image, which appeared to violate X’s policy on manipulated content, resembled an AI-generated image posted by Trump last month during the Democratic National Convention, envisioning Harris addressing a crowd under communist symbols.
Musk’s post came a day after he shared another post with a screenshot suggesting that only “high status males” should be able to participate in government because women (and men with “low testosterone”) are not capable of critical thought. Musk posted it to his 196 million followers with the comment, “interesting observation.”
The sexist screed appears to have originated on 4Chan, the notorious hate-filled website that has been linked to mass shootings.
By choosing to amplify disinformation and misogynist views, Musk, a South African billionaire who is both the owner of X and the most-followed account on the platform, is promoting radical content to the masses that might otherwise languish in the darkest corners of the internet.
By Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Musk shared the fake image and false statement depicting Harris as a communist, the post had been viewed nearly 60 million times, according to data from X. Musk’s post suggesting women shouldn’t take part in democracy had been viewed more than 19 million times.
X did not respond to a CNN request for comment.
Read Donie O’Sullivan’s full analysis