"We have a new star - Elon!". Donald Trump's praise to Elon Musk on election night lasted almost four minutes. Musk is "a special man, a super genius," Trump said when he announced his election victory at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Even at the moment of his greatest triumph, Trump said no more words for himself. Why? First of all, there is the $119 million that Musk allocated to Trump's election campaign.

In the most expensive election campaign of all time, Musk's donations probably played a key role, says political scientist Jan Ratje. He is an expert on right-wing extremism and conspiracy theories at the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy CeMAS.

"Elon Musk brought the whole thing to the top with his lottery," Ratje told DW.

He gave a million US dollars a day to Trump supporters in "swinging" US states.

X as "Hell of Hate"

In addition to money, Musk also provided Trump with a lot of attention, especially on his platform X, formerly Twitter.

"On the one hand, by sharing far-right content himself, and on the other hand, by allowing right-wing extremist actors to re-open accounts on his platform and build a large reach again," says Ratje.

An analysis by the non-governmental organization "Center for Combating Digital Hate" (CCDH) suggests that Musk, with his platform X, was able to manipulate the election campaign in favor of Trump. Musk's false or misleading claims about the US election have been viewed nearly 1,2 billion times, according to CCDH founder Imran Ahmed. "Since Elon Musk took over X, the platform has turned into an inferno of hate and misinformation — and a lot of it is coming directly from Musk," Ahmed told DW.

Fake news as creators of identity

Jeanette Hoffman doubts that claim.

"I don't believe that X or Musk himself has as much manipulative influence as is often assumed," the head of the research group on digitalization policy at the Science Center Berlin (WZB) told DW.

"I would say it's actually the other way around, that Musk reflects the views and political opinions of many Trump supporters." In that sense, I see him more as representative of a certain emotional state and attitudes that are clearly dominant in America right now."

In general, the impact of misinformation, or false claims, is often overestimated, Hoffman explains.

"It is often feared here that disinformation has a great manipulative influence. I think they have a greater influence on the formation of identity. Those who share false claims on the X platform, such as those about migrants eating pets, do not necessarily believe those claims are true. "By liking and sharing, people are more likely to express their affiliation with political camps – for example, loyalty to populists like Trump," says Hoffman.

Patterns of interpretation that also apply in Germany

Does this also apply to Germany, where parliamentary elections are held next year? "Yes," says Hoffman. But what is drastically different is the national media scene.

"It has a significant impact on whether misinformation can develop its identity-forming effect." In Germany, this would be mitigated by a media scene that spreads less false claims."

Even Kurd Knipfer does not see disinformation as a decisive factor in elections, neither in the US nor in Germany. He researches political communication at the Center for Digital Democracy at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. In a conversation with DW, Knipfer emphasizes that similar patterns of interpretation as in the US could also apply in Germany.

"In Germany too, there is substantial dissatisfaction with established institutions, media, educational institutions, democratic processes, parties. This "counter-narrative" is mainly spread through the new media. "Of course it helps if you have machinery that uses those techniques all the time."

Two billionaires in the Oval Office

Will the richest man in the world become the most powerful? His closeness to the future 47th US president is likely to further increase the tech billionaire's influence. On election night, Musk posted a photo montage on his platform of him entering the Oval Office, the office of the US president. However, it remains to be seen whether he will take up any important post.

"We should not underestimate the fact that a window of influence has now opened for Elon Musk," says political scientist Ratje.

He could now try to reduce government regulation to profit economically.

"Especially with his companies SpaceX, Starlink and Tesla, for example, when it comes to workers' rights," Ratje says.

He can also hope for large government contracts. By the way, this does not only apply to Musk and his companies, adds political analyst Knipfer. And other tech giants like Amazon and Meta are interested in as few rules and taxes as possible.

Will the friendship between the two billionaires Musk and Trump last and when will the euphoria around the victory subside?

"Two big egos like Donald Trump and Elon Musk don't necessarily have to be in harmony," Ratje says. He recalls the first term of Donald Trump.

The man who famously coined the phrase "you're fired" fired nine out of ten of his key aides during his first term as president.

Source: Deutsche Welle/ Author: Peter Hille