Can Elon Musk Make Politics Work on X?

livemint.com:

leadership banned him from the platform, a move Musk undid in November. Trump tweeted a photo of his mug shot taken in connection with the case against him in Fulton County, Ga., and the phrases: “ELECTION INTERFERENCE" and “NEVER SURRENDER!" The post included a fundraising link.

Trump is facing four indictments, including one in Georgia, where he and others were charged with operating a criminal enterprise that sought to overturn the 2020 election. Trump denies all allegations against him.

X is still an important platform for candidates, but it isn’t the only one, said New Hampshire-based Republican strategist Jim Merrill, who isn’t affiliated with a candidate. Trump’s interview with Carlson, for example, “demonstrated that Donald Trump and Twitter alone aren’t enough to steal eyeballs away from what we saw in the Republican debate," Merrill said.

The conversation that night “on Twitter and elsewhere was clearly about the debate." Musk, who says he is working on creating an “everything app," has overhauled Twitter since buying the social-media company in October.Beyond renaming Twitter, Musk has upended who gets verified and sometimes boosted on the site by charging for those perks.He also has undone some of Twitter’s prior content restrictions, including by announcing a policy to reinstate many previously suspended accounts. The company also ended a yearslong prohibition of political ads after Musk acquired it.

Democrats and Republicans say they are still planning for X to be part of their strategy, but they are trying to figure out what role it is going to play, especially during the primary season, given Trump and President Biden hold wide leads in polling in their party nominating processes. “It is still going to be