Elon Musk sweeps members of Congress into his social media sway

Elon Musk has used his social media platform to communicate directly with members of Congress dozens of times on legislation and congressional activities in the months running up to the 2024 election, a megaphone that experts say is akin to lobbying even if it doesn’t meet the legal definition.

Musk owns the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and he posts regularly to his 202 million followers a range of issues, including the promotion of his plans for space exploration and his support of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. But he also used simple replies to amplify the posts of some Republican members of Congress on claims about illegal immigration and disaster relief, as he becomes more vocal in the run-up to the election.

The online interactions with lawmakers also deal with his business interests, such as SpaceX. For example, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform announced it would investigate the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to deny $885 million in rural broadband subsidies to Starlink, the satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX.

“Great!” Musk replied to the committee’s post.

Musk has replied or engaged roughly 41 times with @BasedMikeLee, the personal Twitter account belonging to Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, according to a CQ Roll Call count of posts since Aug. 19. That tally far and away is the greatest number of online engagements with lawmakers.

Although some of those interactions were on the issue of free speech, much of the content was related to legislation sponsored by Lee that would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote.

In one Sept. 2 post, Lee congratulated House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La, for opting to include the measure in stopgap spending legislation to avert a government shutdown. “If it’s a ‘nonstarter’ with Democrats to deter noncitizens from voting, they’re going to have to explain that,” Lee wrote.

Musk replied, “This is great.”

On Oct. 5, Musk and Lee predicted apocalyptic outcomes if Trump loses the presidential election to Vice President Kamala Harris. Musk tweeted that the outcome would mean “the ‘Democratic’ Party will legalize so many illegals that there will be no swing states!”

Lee backed Musk up by posting, “If Kamala wins, our 235-year experiment in constitutional government may well end.” Musk replied, “Yeah.”

Musk’s interactions with lawmakers other than Lee are less numerous. He engaged 11 times each with the House speaker and the House Judiciary Committee Republicans account. One of the engagements was an emoji reply to a pet meme created by the House Judiciary Committee amid Trump’s unsubstantiated and inflammatory claims about Haitian migrants eating cats and dogs.

Neither Lee’s office nor the House Judiciary Committee responded to a comment on the engagement and whether interaction is happening with Musk outside of X. Johnson’s also office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Musk interacted five times with Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Trump’s running mate; and with House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Other engagements included with Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., who has challenged the Federal Aviation Administration’s claims of wrongdoing by SpaceX; as well as with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California stands out as a Democrat who snared an interaction with Musk, earning two replies from him. Khanna, who has expressed similar views as Musk on free speech, congratulated the billionaire for the first successful space walk by a private company in September.

‘Shadow lobbyist’

The interactions happen as Tesla, another Musk company, has hired lobbyists on a range of issues; Musk has donated $75 million to a political action committee that supports Trump; and he made an unprecedented appearance on the campaign trail by joining Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa.

Tim LaPira, a political science professor at James Madison University, said Musk’s interactions with lawmakers “would be worth a lot of money” in terms of lobbying, even if it doesn’t meet the statutory definition.

“Lobbyists engage in many activities,” LaPira said. “Sometimes they directly contact members of Congress and staff in confidential settings. Other times they buy Metro ads to sell fighter jets to blue- and yellow-line commuters who may work at the Pentagon. Other times they develop digital media strategies. All of it is for the same purpose. They’re trying to raise politicians’ attention to issues that matter to their business.”

LaPira said the law may not consider Musk’s replies to lawmakers on social media a form of lobbying, but at the end of the day those interactions have that impact.

“The law doesn’t see Elon Musk as a lobbyist,” LaPira said. “But as an expert on the real world of lobbying, I see him as one of thousands of shadow lobbyists who fail to disclose their contacts with elected officials to advance their business interests.”

James Thurber, founder and former director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, said Musk’s engagement with lawmakers on X demonstrates why social media should be regulated under federal law for lobbying.

And he referred to an image of a jubilant Musk jumping in mid-air at the Trump rally that has circulated online, celebrated by Trump’s allies on the right and mocked in a variety of memes by his opponents on the left.

“It’s not a pure quid pro quo, but it’s there,” Thurber said. “So my point is that he’s funneling money. He’s using his social platform and public meetings and being with Trump, jumping around like a jackrabbit. People see that he’s loyal to Trump and loyal to what the Republican Party is now, and that that makes a difference.”

Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at Public Citizen, said Musk’s replies to lawmakers on social media “should be counted as lobbying” because he has made more than two contacts with government officials with the intent to influence policy.

But another issue, Holman said, is whether Musk would have to register as a lobbyist based on these contacts, which would require greater transparency and public filings under the law. That would require Musk to make at least $10,000 expenditures within a three-month period, or receive income of more than $2,500 within a three-month period for his activities, Holman said.

“Social media is very inexpensive, and so it tends to sort of dance around these sort of registration thresholds,” Holman said. “And if all it is he’s not doing any kind of research when he makes these lobbying contacts, then it tends to be very, very inexpensive. However, that’s questionable. I mean, is he actually spending time doing research before he makes one of these lobbying contacts? And if he is, then he’s got to add up the hours that he’s spending doing research, and that would very likely cross the financial threshold.”

Holman said the problem with keeping tabs on Musk’s expenditures on social media is “there’s no one to monitor it, except to rely on the word of Elon Musk.”

Musk’s company SpaceX and X Corp. didn’t respond to a request to comment for this article. A treasurer for America PAC, through which Musk makes political contributions, couldn’t be reached for comment.

Mike Davis, president of the Article III Project and former chief counsel for nominations on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the idea that Musk’s tweets with lawmakers constitute lobbying is “silly.”

“He’s being fully transparent,” Davis said. “Americans shouldn’t have to hire lawyers and fill out government forms to exercise their First Amendment rights.”

Davis noted that Musk’s posts with lawmakers are public, which makes the idea that he should have to register as a lobbyist over them “absurd,” he said.

“Elon Musk, like any American, has the First Amendment right to redress government, and he’s doing this very publicly on X, so why would he have to fill out lobbying paperwork when he’s doing it publicly?” Davis said.