Backlash as Elon Musk posts fake image of Kamala Harris
The world’s richest person Elon Musk has copped flak after posting a fake image of presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
The world’s richest person has copped massive backlash after sharing a fake image of Kamala Harris.
Elon Musk posted an image purporting to show the Democratic presidential candidate dressed in red with a hammer and sickle communist symbol, apparently generated by artificial intelligence (AI), on his social media site X.
Mr Musk, who is heavily backing Republican candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming November election, wrote: “Kamala vows to be a communist dictator on day one. Can you believe she wears that outfit!?”
He was writing in response to Ms Harris who had posted a photo of Mr Trump with the text “Donald Trump vows to be a dictator on day one” and she added, “We won’t let him.”
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity in December last year, Mr Trump said he was not going to be a dictator “except for day one”. Mr Trump’s aides later brushed that off as an attempt to “trigger the left and the media”.
At no point has Ms Harris vowed to be a “communist dictator”, even in jest.
Mr Musk’s photo mirrors Mr Trump’s attempts to characterise Ms Harris as far-left, with the Republican dubbing her “Comrade Kamala”.
Mr Musk’s photo may be in breach of X’s synthetic and manipulated media policy, which bars people from posting “synthetic, manipulated, or out-of-context media that may deceive or confuse people and lead to harm”.
The policy continues that X may “label posts containing misleading media to help people understand their authenticity and to provide additional context.” There is no label attached to the billionaire’s post.
Mr Musk himself has warned about the dangers of AI and in March last year signed an open letter along with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak calling for an urgent pause on “giant AI experiments”.
Mr Musk, who as an estimated net worth of $359 billion ($US243.7 billion) and regularly posts memes, once changed his bio to CTO (Chief Troll Officer).
But his latest foray into US election politics was hit with immediate backlash.
Elon Musk posting AI generated posts as if they’re real is… pretty embarrassing. He used to invent things. pic.twitter.com/Uu63ZSTREl
— Morgan Cameron Ross (@Morgan_C_Ross) September 3, 2024
Mike Harvey, who ran as a Democratic nominee for the Senate in Florida, blasted the billionaire writing: “You don’t think this type of extreme manipulation at best, flat out lie at worst isn’t dangerous coming from the richest person on earth that happens to own one of the largest platforms?
“Doesn’t all the money and power come with more responsibility?”
Another X user quipped: “It’s because of posts like this, that X is being banned and restricted in other countries”, referencing Mr Musk’s deepening feud with Brazil’s government, which recently led to X being banned.
“This is what full-blown desperation looks like. It’s going to get more nonsensical than this,” one user added.
Another commented: “Aren’t you the one claiming that AI can be dangerous? Well, yeah you’re right, this is a great example.”
Elon Musk’s feud with Brazil
Brazil’s Supreme Court on Monday ratified the decision by one of its judges to suspend Mr Musk’s X social network for alleged judicial transgressions.
Access to the network in the country has been blocked since Saturday morning, hours after judge Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension of the platform.
Moraes’s ruling came after Mr Musk failed to comply with an order to name a new legal representative for the company in Brazil — a requirement X has rejected as “illegal.”
Mr Moraes and Mr Musk have been locked in a high-profile feud for months as the judge has vowed to fight disinformation and Mr Musk claims the supremacy of free speech.
On Monday, five Supreme Court judges, including Mr Moraes himself, voted in a virtual session to uphold his ruling.
“Elon Musk demonstrated his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, the judiciary, positioning himself as a true supranational entity, immune to the laws of countries,” Mr Moraes said in the new ruling.
His colleague Flavio Dino added that “freedom of expression does not excuse repeated violations of the legal system.”
Mr Musk, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX, reacted with fury to last Friday’s order, branding Moraes as an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge” and accusing him of “trying to destroy democracy in Brazil.”
The standoff began when Mr Moraes ordered the suspension of several X accounts belonging to supporters of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
Mr Bolsonaro had tried to discredit the voting systems used during the country’s 2022 elections, which he lost.
Brazilian authorities are investigating whether Mr Bolsonaro plotted a coup attempt to prevent his successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, from assuming office in January 2023.
Online users blocked by Mr Moraes include far-right ex-congressman Daniel Silveira, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2022 on charges of leading a movement to overthrow the Supreme Court.
In April, Mr Moraes ordered an investigation of Mr Musk, accusing him of reactivating some of the banned accounts.
Mr Musk is also the subject of a separate investigation into the alleged use of public money to orchestrate disinformation campaigns in favour of Mr Bolsonaro and those close to him.
The suspension of X came just over a month before municipal elections are to be held in Brazil.
In August, X announced it was shuttering its offices in Brazil due to the Moraes’s actions, but assured clients they would still have access to its services.
Until Friday, X counted about 22 million users in Brazil, according to the site DataReportal.
- with AFP
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