In each edition of web_crawlr we have exclusive original content every day. On Mondays our Tech Reporter Mikael Thalen debunks the most wild conspiracy theories swirling around the web in his “One Dumb Conspiracy” column. If you want to read columns like this before everyone else, subscribe to web_crawlr to get your daily scoop of internet culture delivered straight to your inbox.
Will Kamala Harris shut down the social media platform X if she becomes the next president? If you ask conspiracy theorists, they’ll undoubtedly tell you ‘yes.’ But in reality, that’s not the case at all.
The claim emerged late last month after far-right accounts began spreading a video that they said showed Harris admitting her plans to censor the platform.
In just one post from a far-right account known as “Clown World,” more than 22 million X users were presented with the claim that “Kamala will shut down X if she wins.”
“Kamala Harris has confirmed she plans to shut down X,” another user hysterically wrote. “They will end freedom of speech. You will be silenced.”
The clip shows Harris speaking with CNN anchor Jake Tapper, in which she states: “There has to be a responsibility that is placed on these social media sites to understand their power. They are directly speaking to millions and millions of people without any level of oversight or regulation, and that has to stop.”
Earlier in the clip, Harris is also alleged to be referencing X owner Elon Musk while stating: “He has lost his privileges and it should be taken down and the bottom line is that you can’t say that you have one rule for Facebook and you have a different rule for Twitter.”
The allegation was amplified even further by former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who lashed out at Harris over the purported plan to end X.
“Can someone please explain to her that freedom of speech is a RIGHT, not a ‘privilege?’” he said.
No, Kamala Harris didn’t say she will shut down X if she becomes president
Ever since, right-wing circles have been spreading the claim that X will only survive if Donald Trump becomes the next president. But there’s just one problem. Harris isn’t referring to Musk. And the video in question isn’t even from this year.
As it turns out, the video is actually from October 2019. Harris was speaking to CNN after the Democratic primary presidential debate about then President Donald Trump, not Elon Musk, who didn’t even acquire the social media platform until 2022.
Had conspiracy theorists taken just one moment to verify the context and the date of the clip, it would have been abundantly clear that it had nothing to do with Musk or an alleged shutdown of X. But then again, if conspiracy theorists were able to fact-check, this column wouldn’t exist.
Yet despite that simple oversight, the claim continues to circulate all over social media.
So if anyone asks you about the impending Kamala-ordered shutdown of X, let them know that it’s just one dumb conspiracy.
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