Starlink didn’t reply to a request for remark.
This conspiracy concept has continued to unfold, and it is not restricted to X: Dialogue threads on Reddit, posts on Instagram and Threads, and dozens of Fb posts, all push the narrative that Musk colluded with Trump to make use of his Starlink satellites to steal the election.
One of the energetic platforms for these conspiracy theories is TikTok. WIRED has reviewed dozens of movies posted on the platform by customers both repeating the declare about Musk and Starlink or including new twists to the conspiracy concept.
X, Meta, Reddit, and TikTok didn’t reply to requests for remark.
One of the widespread new features of the idea pertains to the truth that Starlink satellites had been observed burning up over the US last weekend, which these pushing the conspiracy concept declare is proof of Musk trying to cowl his tracks. The reality is that Starlink satellites are designed to expend on reentry on the finish of their lifespan.
The conspiracy concept has eerily related features to the so-called Italygate conspiracy pushed by the Trump campaign after the 2020 election, which urged an Italian navy satellite tv for pc was used to flip votes from Trump to President Joe Biden.
“It is regarding to see it solidifying and crystallizing into particular narratives, after which to see stuff being added on—that is what we noticed final time as properly,” says Thomas. “You see this kind of collective storytelling that occurs inside these communities the place the people who find themselves attempting to realize clout on-line by selling a brand new model of a conspiracy concept, all of them have so as to add their little bits to it in order that they’ll get their engagement.”
Different conspiracy theorists claimed Trump spoke about “a bit secret” he made on stage he had with Musk, referencing a remark he made throughout his Madison Sq. Backyard rally final month. Actually, the remark was directed at speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Some left-leaning accounts have additionally pointed to podcaster Joe Rogan’s comments this week that Musk had developed a bespoke app to provide him early entry to election outcomes.
“Apparently Elon created an app and he knew who received the election 4 hours earlier than the outcomes,” Rogan mentioned. “In order the outcomes are coming in, 4 hours earlier than they known as it, Dana White instructed me Elon mentioned ‘I am leaving. It is over. Donald received.’” It’s unclear how this app labored or what knowledge it used.
Jen Easterly, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company that oversees the US elections, mentioned in a November 6 statement that there was “no proof of any malicious exercise that had a cloth influence on the safety or integrity of our election infrastructure.”
Whereas some right-wing figures are persevering with to push election conspiracy theories, the overwhelming majority have fallen silent within the wake of Trump’s win, abandoning in a single day 4 years price of continuous posting and shouting about election fraud.
And whereas the left-wing election conspiracies are nowhere close to the dimensions that the Cease the Steal motion was simply weeks in the past, some specialists are nonetheless involved.
“I’ve seen some comparisons to Cease the Steal and a few of these different proper wing conspiracy election theories, and it’s smaller than these, as they had been on the finish of the Trump presidency,” says Thomas. “However I feel the numerous distinction there’s that they got here after months, if not years, of deliberate agitation and cultivation by quite a lot of actors. So, for me, to see these left wing election fraud conspiracy theories getting fairly vital traction shortly, I feel, personally, is kind of regarding.”
