5 Days With Elon Musk on X: Deepfakes, Falsehoods and Lots of Memes; The New York Times, September 27, 2024

 Stuart A. Thompson , The New York Times; 5 Days With Elon Musk on X: Deepfakes, Falsehoods and Lots of Memes

"Experts who monitor falsehoods and conspiracy theories have long feared that Mr. Musk would use his ownership of X to further pollute the online ecosystem. Since he bought the platform known as Twitter in 2022, he has shown a willingness to elevate unfounded claims as he has embraced a more conservative political posture, including by endorsing Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign in July.

Nearly a third of his posts last week were false, misleading or missing vital context. They included misleading posts claiming Democrats were making memes “illegal” and falsehoods that they want to “open the border” to gain votes from illegal immigrants. His misleading posts were seen more than 800 million times on X, underscoring Mr. Musk’s unique role as the platform’s most-followed account and a significant source of its misleading content."

Biden Made Trump Bigger. Harris Makes Him Smaller.; The New York Times, August 11, 2024

Ezra Klein , The New York Times; Biden Made Trump Bigger. Harris Makes Him Smaller.

"Not all elections take place in new media environments. But elections that do are often won by the candidate who best understands the way attention is changing. Franklin Roosevelt understood radio in a way that Herbert Hoover didn’t. John F. Kennedy understood television in a way that Richard Nixon didn’t. Obama rode the early wave of social media. Trump mastered the algorithmic era of social media, where outrage and controversy cashed out as engagement. The platforms have changed again, chasing TikTok’s dominance, and now memes and clipped and remixed videos rule."