Hey, remember back when Elon Musk first purchased Twitter, how he talked about evening the balance of political speech, and reducing the over-influence of Democrat leaning decisions in social media apps?
Yeah, it seems like that hasn’t really worked out, with a new survey from Pew Research showing that Democrat voters now feel like the app is leaning way too far towards the Republican side, which has impacted their experience using the app.
Which is not, like, surprising in any way, but it is interesting to see the historical shift in perceptions on this front.
As you can see in this graph, 51% of Republican X users surveyed describe their experience in the app as positive, versus just 20% of Democratic users.
Democrat voters on X are also more likely to say their experience in the app has been negative, underlining just how far Elon has swung the pendulum towards the right.
Indeed, 31% of X users believe that the platform now supports conservative views over liberal perspectives.
Which, again, is no surprise, with Elon himself being the platform’s most followed user, and regularly amplifying Republican talking points, especially in the lead-up to last year’s election.
Elon has even taken credit for getting Trump elected, noting, just today, that:
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate.”
So yeah, no surprises in this new research, but looking at Pew’s past survey data on the same point, it is interesting to note the platform’s perceptive shift.
As you can see, there’s been a big swing in opinion in every category relating to how X is perceived by people from differing political perspectives, which shows that X is clearly leaning further towards the right.
Is that a good thing for X in general?
Whatever your view on media and/or social media leanings, based on past examples, this doesn’t seem like an overly positive shift, with other right-leaning social platforms struggling to gain major traction, and become real players in the broader social media landscape.
Right-wing focused apps like Parler and Truth Social have only managed to hold onto niche audiences, with most people preferring to join the crowd of the more popular social apps, where they can share their views with a broader audience.
And evidence does suggest that X is also losing audience share because of this shift to the right, which could eventually derail the app entirely, though it has seemingly held onto a significant portion of its audience.
Habitual behaviors and established communities have ensured that X maintains a market hold, but it is interesting to note the significance of the shift towards the right, and how that’s impacting user experience.
Maybe that’ll shift again, with Elon now opposing Trump’s latest measures.
