Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X speaks during the Milken Conference 2024 Global Conference Sessions at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 6, 2024.
David Swanson | Reuters
If a voter in Michigan performs a search on Google, a somewhat shocking ad might pop up.
The ad shows a young man lying in bed late at night when someone else texts him, “Hey you need to vote,” and then sends the man a video of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The man can hear the gunshots and people screaming in the background.
As Trump is rushed off stage with blood pouring down his face, the man watching the video types in response, “This is out of control. How do I start?”
The ad then displays a website for a group called America PAC.
The website says it will help the viewer register to vote. But once a user clicks “Register to Vote,” the experience he or she will have can be very different, depending on where they live.
If a user lives in a state that is not considered competitive in the presidential election, like California or Wyoming for example, they’ll be prompted to enter their email addresses and zip code and then directed quickly to a voter registration page for their state, or back to the original sign up section.
But for users who enter a zip code that indicates they live in a battleground state, like Pennsylvania or Georgia, the process is very different.
Rather than be directed to their state’s voter registration page, they instead are directed to a highly detailed personal information form, prompted to enter their address, cell phone number, and age.
If they agree to submit all that, the system still does not steer them to a voter registration page. Instead, it shows them a “thank you” page.
So that person who wanted help registering to vote? In the end, they got no help at all registering. But they did hand over priceless personal data to a political operation.
Specifically, a political action committee created by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, one aimed at giving the Republican presidential nominee Trump an advantage in his campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic nominee.
“I have created a PAC, or a super PAC … the America PAC,” Musk said in a recent interview.
Musk also owns the social media platform X, and has a net worth of over $235 billion, according to Forbes.
The combination of owning a social media company that gives him an enormous platform to push his political views, and creating a PAC with effectively unlimited resources, has made Musk, for the first time, a major force in an American presidential election.
Musk PAC uses ‘register to vote’ data
The America PAC has spent over $800,000 since early July on digital ads that target voters in the key battleground states of Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to AdImpact.
The ads appeared on Facebook, Instagram and Google through YouTube, and they all encouraged people to register to vote at America PAC’s website.
The PAC’s effort to collect information from people using the idea of “voter registration” is a critical piece to its plan to make personal contact with these voters.
“America PAC is focusing on door-to-door canvassing in support of Trump,” said Brendan Fischer, a deputy executive director at campaign finance watchdog Documented.
“I think it is safe to assume that the voter data gathered through these digital appeals are going to inform America PAC’s canvassing and other political activities,” he added.
Fischer pointed to the group’s privacy policy which says they can use the data they’ve collected on “other activities and/or fundraising campaigns.”
Since June, America PAC has spent over $21 million on canvassing, digital media, text message services and phone calls, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
The PAC’s website offers no indication one way or another what the group’s political leaning is. But in its federal filings, the group discloses that all of its work is designed to either help Trump or hurt his opponent.
Fischer said he has seen some other PACs try to use a “register to vote” message to gather people’s data.
But what is unique about America PAC’s project is who is backing it and the timing of its creation.
In most cases, super PACs are not allowed to directly coordinate the ads they pay for with the campaign. But this spring, regulators ruled that door-to-door canvassing falls outside the scope of the ban because, unlike an ad, it is a person-to-person exchange.
“What makes America PAC more unique: it is a billionaire-backed super PAC focused on door-to-door canvassing, which it can conduct in coordination with a presidential campaign,” Fischer said. “Thanks to a recent FEC advisory opinion, America PAC may legally coordinate its canvassing activities with the Trump campaign — meaning, among other things, that the Trump campaign may provide America PAC with the literature and scripts to make sure their efforts are consistent.”
“Coordination is incredibly important: it ensures that the PAC’s activities are maximally beneficial to the campaign, and frees up the campaign’s own funds for other uses,” he said. “I suspect that the PAC’s ability to coordinate its data-driven canvassing activities with the Trump campaign made it very appealing for donors.”
Longtime Republican strategists Phil Cox, Generra Peck and Dave Rexrode are among those now guiding the PAC after a shake-up in mid-July, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. This person was granted anonymity to speak freely about a private matter.
The change suggests there could be a shift in tactics by the PAC come November. The New York Times first reported on the moves.
Musk is not the only tech executive backing this effort.
The America PAC raised over $8 million between April 1 and June 30, according to FEC records. It has received donations from veteran investor Doug Leone, cryptocurrency investors Cameron and Tylor Winklevoss, and a company run by longtime venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, according to FEC records.
Lonsdale, a co-founder of the software company Palantir, is also a leader of the PAC, and “serves as a political confidant to” Musk, according to The New York Times.
The records do not yet list Musk as a donor. He recently said on X that he is “making some donations to America PAC,” but did not say how much. The PAC is not required to file a third-quarter report until Oct. 15, the first time that Musk’s name could be listed as a donor.
A spokesman for America PAC declined to comment. Musk did not return emails seeking comment.
Musk on X mirrors Musk PAC
The PAC’s ads that have aired on social media platforms also mirror a larger message that Musk pushes out to his 191 million followers on X several times a day: The notion that America is in chaos and voting for Trump over Harris is the only way out.
“These PACs have often functioned as the alter ego of whatever billionaire is behind them,” said Daniel Weiner, a director of the Brennan Center’s elections and government program.
Experts say Musk’s ownership of X and the lack of any real guardrails around how he uses it, is a sign the platform could be used by the Tesla boss as a political weapon to take on Harris and Democrats at large with fewer than 100 days left until Election Day.
“I’d say that it is somewhat concerning that the owner of one of the most important social media platforms is openly partisan (rooting for one of the candidates) and is using his platform … as a vehicle for pursuing his openly partisan ends,” said Matthew Baum, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, whose research includes studying misinformation.
Baum said such ownership of a social media company like X leaves open the possibility of “capture of a major platform by a partisan actor, who would then be largely free to use the platform as they see fit, regardless of the potential negative social or political consequences.”
“There is a concern that Musk is weaponizing that platform to help his preferred candidate” in Trump, said Weiner.