Three Bloomberg investigations illuminated how powerful figures harnessed the power of social media to seed conservative ideas ahead of major global elections. This influence can’t be overstated: In the months since these elections occurred, many of these popular right-wing ideas have transformed into real-world policy — particularly in the US, after President Donald Trump took office for the second time. This network has become a crucial part of the new administration, with the podcasters forming an alternative press corps and their guests assuming key posts in government. Bloomberg provided an early and critical look at these players.
Remigration
Bloomberg analyzed over 3 million social media posts about “remigration,” a white nationalist call for the deportation non-white people from Western countries, with most of the mentions occurring on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The analysis and visual storytelling revealed how over a span of many months, this once-obscure theory became central to political discourse around Austrian, German and US elections. The story also illuminated how far-right influencers used X to win the attention — and eventually the endorsement — of the world’s most powerful people, including Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Elon Musk’s Anti-Immigration Conspiracies on X
Bloomberg showed how the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, capitalized on his heightened influence online as owner of X. A team of reporters analyzed Musk’s social media posts in unprecedented statistical depth to explain how the billionaire was influencing public opinion on immigration. They used machine learning to categorize all 53,000 of Musk’s posts and reviewed hundreds manually to ensure the model’s accuracy. Their analysis revealed that as the 2024 US presidential race got underway, Musk began to post prolifically about immigration — more than any other policy topic — and those posts garnered the most shares. Reporters also interviewed the Trump fans influenced by misinformation, as well as the immigrants who feared for their safety as a result.
The Second Trump Presidency, Brought to You by YouTubers
In January, reporters published a sweeping investigation into a set of immensely popular right-wing YouTubers whose content caters primarily to men, shining a light on how they helped lift Trump to power. The team analyzed nearly 1,300 hours of footage and over 2,000 YouTube videos over the prior two years from the podcasters, each of whom featured Trump as a guest ahead of the US 2024 election. The analysis revealed that the shows primarily bill themselves as entertainment — the hosts discuss sports, masculinity, Internet culture, gambling and pranks. But sandwiched between these freewheeling discussions were strikingly similar political messages that aligned with the core pillars of the Trump campaign. As the election drew nearer, the hosts invited more political guests and devoted more time on their shows to these political discussions. And the hosts worked to send their audience to the polls: among the 600 highly-viewed videos, over one-third mentioned voting and elections. Bloomberg also interviewed young male voters to hear from them directly how the content shaped their views.
