Over the last 18 months, Elon Muskâs X has become a hive of disinformation, particularly around breaking news events, such as the Gaza conflict and the Baltimore bridge collapse. But after Thursdayâs presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump, the expected torrent of disinformation and conspiracies flooding the platform never materialized.
Instead of sharing conspiracies about the debate, Trump just posted multiple undoctored clips of Bidenâs responses to his platform Truth Social.
âWOWâWHAT IS HE SAYING?!â one post read, featuring a clip of Biden making a nonsensical comment about Medicare.
Another montage video of Bidenâs worst debate moments shared by Trump on Truth Social has subsequently been shared widely on other platforms including X, Facebook, and Telegram, racking up millions of views.
In what was seen as a critical opportunity to reassure his supporters of his fitness to serve a second term as president, Bidenâs debate appearance was widely criticized by lawmakers, political pundits, and viewers from across the political spectrum for lacking energy and coherence. Bidenâs campaign team tried to explain away the presidentâs performance by claiming he had a cold, and even vice president Kamala Harris said that Biden had a âslow start.â And though Trump pushed conspiracies and disinformation during the debate about issues like immigration, abortion, January 6, most of which went unchallenged, Bidenâs ability became the most discussed detail of the evening.
On X, pro-Trump accounts who are typically happy to share even the wildest conspiracies about Biden, were instead gleefully sharing unedited clips of Biden from the debate stage.
Many Trump supporters also slammed media outlets for their coverage of so-called cheap fakes in the lead up to the debate, referring to video clips shared online that have been deceptively edited to make Biden look old, fragile, and senile.
âHey @PressSec was the entire debate tonight a âcheap fakeâ video? Need your analysis. Thanks,â right-wing radio host Clay Travis posted on X after the debate. âIs the Biden team going to claim this entire debate is a cheap fake?â political commentator Krystal Ball added.
As well as sharing clips from the debate, Trump supporters online were also widely sharing clips from left-leaning media outlets like CNN and MSNBC where pundits described âpanicâ amongst the Democrats they were speaking to following Bidenâs performance.
Even on more fringe corners of the internet, including pro-Trump message boards and QAnon channels on Telegram, the majority of the posts being shared were of Bidenâs responses, juxtaposed alongside Trumpâs grimaces.
âThe online community has condensed the entire debate into a few moments where Biden appears to mumble awkwardly, lose his train of thought, or stare blankly at Trump in split-screen shots,â Tauhid Zaman, a professor at Yale School of Management professor, tells WIRED. âWhatâs surprising is the absence of any viral clips favoring Biden. Instead, Democratic social media users are criticizing Bidenâs debate performance and discussing potential replacements.â
