Americans think Elon Musk’s X is as trustworthy as the US government. And that’s not a compliment.
A May survey published by All About Cookies, a company promoting digital security and online privacy, asked 1,000 US adults how much they trusted Big Tech and media companies compared to their government. EMARKETER, a market research company owned by Business Insider’s parent company, shared the survey data on Friday.
While companies like Amazon and Google topped the list, Musk’s platform came in dead last.
The survey’s data showed that 70% of respondents trust Amazon, 65% trust Google, and 64% trust Netflix. Only 29% trusted TikTok, which ByteDance, a Chinese company, owns. US officials worry that ByteDance shares data with the Chinese government and have demanded it divest TikTok to an American-owned company or face a nationwide ban.
Even fewer — only 28% of respondents — however, trusted X, the same percentage that trusted the US government. The survey showed that 43% of respondents distrusted the US government, while 44% distrusted X.
Although the survey didn’t clarify why respondents ranked X last on the list, the platform has been a magnet for controversy since Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion, rebranded it, and overhauled how it moderates content.
Musk’s approach to content moderation
Musk conducted mass layoffs after taking control of Twitter, particularly among its trust and safety team, whose numbers dwindled from about 230 employees to about 20. More trust and safety staffers were laid off the following year.
Yoel Roth, once the head of the trust and safety team, resigned from the company soon after Musk’s arrival.
Concerns about misinformation on the social media app grew quickly after Musk’s purchase, so he launched Community Notes in 2022. A 2023 Bloomberg report said it analyzed almost 400 X posts that contained false information about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza, however, and found that it typically took more than seven hours for a Community Note to appear, and some took 70 hours.
Musk himself has faced backlash for his own questionable posts, including in 2023 when business leaders criticized him for amplifying an antisemitic post on X. He backtracked in January during a conference hosted by the European Jewish Association, saying he was “naive” about antisemitism and is “Jewish by association.”
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
Musk is now dealing with the fallout from another X post this month after former President Donald Trump survived a second apparent assassination attempt. Musk asked in the post why President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris haven’t also faced similar threats.
Musk’s post immediately drew backlash for promoting political violence, prompting him to delete it and defend himself, calling it a “joke.” The US Secret Service told Bloomberg News it is “aware” of Musk’s post and is investigating the matter.
Musk’s X has also run afoul of multiple foreign governments, most recently in Brazil, where X lawyers on Friday finally capitulated to demands for stricter content moderation months after the country’s Supreme Court ordered a nationwide ban of the platform.
Representatives for X did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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