Elon Musk isn’t known for staying in one place.Tesla, SpaceX, the Boring Company, Neuralink, X and xAI are the six companies Elon Musk’s remarkable political influence he either leads or owns. He is a rocket creator, EV manufacturer, and all-around maverick.
Should we also include geopolitical diplomats?
In the past decade, Musk has held billionaire status and all the inherent political clout that brings. His control over key technologies, communication channels, and even national security mechanisms has continued to grow in the last year.
A concentration of economic power and decision-making undermines democracy, analysts warn.
A look at Elon Musk’s political influence-X
It hasn’t been a great financial return for Musk to buy Twitter for billion in 2022.
As the owner of one of the world’s most influential social-media platforms, Musk has the power to amplify or ban anyone he chooses. Musk tweeted: “They are no longer the arbiters of opinion.” As a result, the implication is that he is.
Onlookers aren’t confident in his management of the platform that documents and shares current affairs.
A European Commission investigation into X’s content-moderation rules and the spread of illegal content was launched in December.
While Musk reinstates prominent banned accounts, such as far-right figure Alex Jones, he does not dispel claims that marginalized communities are subject to more hate speech.
Musk’s apathy towards fighting misinformation could influence US political division during a year of elections.
Infrastructure delivery-Elon musk’s political influence
Musk is the CEO of two major companies developing national infrastructure around the world – as well as outer space.
According to Space News, SpaceX has been responsible for nearly 50% of orbital launches this year.
NASA and the Pentagon have also paid SpaceX billions of dollars to fly them into space.
Governments have just announced Starshield, a satellite network designed to support national security efforts.
As reported by The FT, the partnership symbolizes the privatization of defense. Meanwhile, Tesla controls the nation’s largest network of charging stations for electric vehicles and has world leaders lobbying for its new gigafactories.
As a result of his dependence, he may be able to influence national policy and avoid regulation.
As a result of the sheer range of his monopolies, David Karpf, professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, says the rules that apply to everyone else rarely apply to him.
Since he has exclusive contracts with Starlink and SpaceX, the government has to walk on eggshells with his Tesla and Twitter regulatory violations.”
Starlink
Global internet traffic from Musk’s constellation of around 5,000 satellites has nearly tripled in 2023, thanks to its connectivity to remote and conflict-affected regions.
A few hundred satellites have been launched so far by rival networks like Amazon’s Project Kuiper or the Chinese government’s constellation.
Starlink’s ability to administer internet access has already proven controversial, particularly in Ukraine.
In response to Russian cyberattacks and internet blackouts, Musk donated thousands of Starlink internet kits to Ukrainian military forces.
Yet, this October, he was forced to defend his decision to deny the Ukrainian military internet access during an attack that could have decimated the Russian navy in Crimea.
It was Musk’s claim that he had averted nuclear war, but his ability to control Ukraine’s military operations led to accusations that he was trying to “play god.”
Following the IDF’s cutoff of internet access to the Gaza Strip during the Israel-Gaza conflict, Musk offered Starlink to aid organizations operating there.
Steven Livingston, a professor of political science at George Washington University, described the development as extraordinary.
Livingston says, “It’s a reflection of the position Musk has put himself in, where he arbitrates geopolitical events.” “Musk ended up being in command of another nation’s military operations against an invading force. And that’s a problem.”
Artificial Intelligence
As a result of his investments in OpenAI and the establishment of his company xAI, Musk has increased his influence over policy and regulation of yet another pivotal future technology.
This year’s AI Safety Summit featured him as the star guest.
The cofounder of We and AI, a nonprofit that promotes AI literacy and ethics, says he is not a great technologist driving forward successful or safe development of AI.
Musk was catching up and launching his own AI chatbot trained on realtime Twitter data in the six months before the proposed pause [in the letter Musk and over 1,000 experts signed in March 2023], Duarte said.
Diplomat with global responsibilities
In 2021, Musk tweeted, “I prefer to stay out of politics.”.
This hasn’t stopped him from taking on the schedule of an international diplomat this year and meeting global leaders from Turkey, France, Italy, Israel, the UK, India, and China.
Musk has used his businesses to cosplay as a statesman, including discussing Tesla expansion and visiting terror attack sites.
Regarding Tesla’s expansion in China, the concern is how much of a geopolitical wildcard he can be before he threatens national security interests. Whether his influence and power will continue to grow or whether others in the fields of AI and quantum will eclipse him remains to be seen – but the phenomenon he represents is here to stay.
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