Elon Musk's X is falling behind in updating political advertising disclosures

(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk

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X, formerly known as Twitter, last updated its political ads library on October 25th. The company typically updates the list — a table of political ad spending on its website — every two business days.

X is not legally required to update the database, but it has become an expected practice for the company and its technology peers. X also missed an update last month.

With the US presidential election just four days away, Musk is increasingly using the platform he owns to promote Donald Trump's campaign. His super political action committee, America PAC, is spending heavily to help the former president defeat Vice President Kamala Harris. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk is the richest person in the world with a net worth of $262.6 billion.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Social media companies such as Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. first began disclosing details about political marketing after Russia-linked groups bought ads during the 2016 election. Meta launched and made generally available an ad library to improve transparency in 2018. Twitter announced its own library this year and banned political advertising entirely in 2019 – a decision that was reversed shortly after Musk took over the company in late 2022.

The lack of updates for X is unlikely to violate reporting requirements. Although the Federal Election Commission requires disclaimers for certain Internet ads, it does not require social media companies to maintain a database. The Federal Communications Commission's rules apply to radio and television broadcasters, not social media.

Musk has focused much of his attention in recent weeks on Pennsylvania, a state he believes Trump must win. He has hosted a series of town hall-style talks and launched an incentive program for swing-state voters to sign a petition and receive cash in return. Musk recently increased payouts from $47 to $100 because he recruited someone to support the petition. Now he's giving away $1 million to a random signer every day through Nov. 5 – a move the Philadelphia district attorney is trying to stop.

According to previous reports, America PAC spent more than $233,000 on advertising on X. Previously, it was primarily targeted at Georgia and Nevada, but on October 7, Musk's PAC adopted the @America handle on X and has since only shown ads targeted to users in Pennsylvania.

– With support from Priyanjana Bengani.

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