Elon Musk seems to have had a plan all along to use Twitter as a way to boost right-wing misinformation and propaganda even before he bought it.
Reuters was the first to exclusively report on Musk's ties to a conservative PAC called Building America's Future going back to 2022.
One source told Reuters that Musk donated millions of dollars, significantly boosting the group's ads and social media campaigns criticizing the Biden administration and other progressive political platforms that Musk himself has increasingly denounced.
Until recently, Musk was still playing coy regarding his political leanings. "Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President," he tweeted in March, just months before he publicly began backing Donald Trump.
Musk has long been accused of buying Twitter for the sole purpose of destroying trust in social media in the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Reuters reports that government data showed revenues at Building America's Future climbed from roughly $11 million in 2021 to about $53 million in 2022, the year two of their sources said Musk had already started his donations. The figures are the most recent available from the Internal Revenue Service, which requires tax-exempt organizations to disclose their revenues.
Building America's Future also recently launched a $10 million advertising campaign meant to undermine Black support for Vice President Kamala Harris, according to an August report by NBC News.
Musk is also potentially facing legal consequences for sharing Russian-funneled disinformation about the 2024 election as Twitter reportedly is now worth a fraction of what it was before he destroyed it.