Dems moan about Elon Musk while spending big on X ads

Numerous Democrats, including those who have complained about billionaire Elon Musk’s management of X — formerly Twitter — are spending large sums of money to advertise on the platform, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

Some of them have strongly criticized Musk’s X leadership since taking over the platform in October 2022 over issues such as “misinformation,” but still spent tens of thousands on the platform, according to a review by the Post. The data ranged from political ads that ran in February 2023 to ones that are set to run in January 2024, with seven Democrats ranking among the nine biggest spenders and the largest being over $169,000.

Over 50 Democratic candidates, campaigns, and party groups have been spending on X to target possible voters and donors, the Post reported. Democrats and Republicans are spending similar amounts to advertise on the platform.

Dozens of House Democrats, including California Rep. Adam Schiff and New York Rep. Dan Goldman, wrote about their “grave concern surrounding X’s ongoing failure to abide by its own policies governing the promotion of misinformation and hateful, violent, and terroristic propaganda videos, which shockingly have been used by the company for profit” in a November letter to Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino.

Yet Schiff spent more than $90,000 for political ads on X, according to the Post. Goldman’s “campaign stopped all spending on X as of Nov. 11,” campaign spokesperson Simone Kanter told the Daily Caller News Foundation. It stopped because of “rampant misinformation on the platform,” Kanter added in comments to the Post.

Montana Sen. Jon Tester was the biggest Democratic ad purchaser and spent almost $170,000 for over 200 ads on the platform, including some in December, according to the Post. California Rep. Katie Porter, Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom each spent over $74,000, according to the Post.

Eight major corporations have recently withdrawn their advertising from X, with several leaving soon after a November report by left-wing activist group Media Matters alleged that ads appear adjacent to antisemitic content on the platform, as well as a post by Musk that was interpreted by some as antisemitic. Apple, Comcast, IBM, Lionsgate, Paramount Global, Sony, and Warner Bros. Discovery all withdrew their advertising.

Democratic lawmakers, led by Schiff, and including Gallego, sent a letter to Musk in October pressuring him to censor “election misinformation” on X after he reportedly fired personnel working on the issue.

X, Schiff, Tester, Porter, Gallego, Brown, and Newsom did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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