Elon Musk Gets Perfect Reward for New Hobby of Election Interference
Elon Musk’s pro-Trump political action committee is in hot water after the North Carolina attorney general’s office announced Monday that it is looking into the group’s collection of personal data.
A complaint was made to the state election board claiming that Musk’s America PAC collected personal data instead of its promised goal of helping people register to vote. Specifically, the PAC asked website users for data such as their ZIP code, address, and a phone number in order to help them register to vote. But if the person lived in a battleground state, they were never actually registered to vote. Only those who lived in states not considered competitive were redirected to their state’s voter registration pages.
“Our office is aware of this issue and is looking into it,” said a spokesperson for the North Carolina attorney general’s office Monday. North Carolina’s inquiry follows another investigation announced Sunday by Michigan’s secretary of state over identical allegations involving Michigan residents.
“Every citizen should know exactly how their personal information is being used by PACs, especially if an entity is claiming it will help people register to vote in Michigan or any other state,” a spokesperson for the Michigan office said in a statement to CNBC.
“While the America PAC is a federal political action committee, the Department is reviewing their activities to determine if there have been any violations of state law. We will refer potential violations to the Michigan Attorney General’s office as appropriate,” the statement added.
Along with North Carolina and Michigan, users in Georgia and Wisconsin who accessed the PAC’s website also weren’t redirected to their states’ voter registration pages.
Musk and his PAC are supporting Donald Trump in the 2024 election over Vice President Kamala Harris, with the tech mogul reportedly feeling slighted after President Biden didn’t invite Tesla, Musk’s car company, to a 2021 electric vehicles summit. Musk has been pro-Trump ever since then, advocating for Trump’s anti-immigration policies in line with his own conspiracist beliefs in the racist “great replacement theory,” which claims immigrants are being imported to replace white people. Musk is an immigrant to the United States.
