Prebunking Elon Musk's Super Bowl Propaganda

Perception is reality.

I normally don’t write on Sundays, but I have seen some alarming rumors that Elon Musk has purchased a $40 million Super Bowl ad in which he will expose the “fraud” and “corruption” at USAID. (See here and here.) If this is true, it is not great news: Musk’s “ad” will almost certainly be filled with mis- and disinformation, considering that he has promoted conspiracy theories regarding USAID on his own social media platform. The difference is that a Super Bowl ad will reach 120 million viewers, many of whom who might not be on social media, further expanding the reach of this propaganda and potentially shaping public opinion in support of his destructive efforts in our government.

Those who have been enrolled in my Substack course, Democracy in the (Dis)Information Age, will know that mis- and disinformation has a first-mover advantage. It can be very difficult to dislodge beliefs once an individual adopts them, even with actual facts.

However, one tactic which I wrote about in one of the my earliest Substack posts (no paywall) was about the effectiveness of “prebunking” — getting out in front of false narratives and preparing audiences for what they might hear and why it is not credible. The Biden administration used prebunking to very effectively neutralize Putin’s false justifications in advance of his invasion of Ukraine, preventing them from gaining traction or providing a red herring for his aggression.

The prebunking tactic may really be the only way to counter Musk’s Super Bowl propaganda, given that it is doubtful that anyone else has or would be able to purchase a “counter ad” during this programming. To that end, the video at the top of this post provides a good visual counter narrative to the conspiracy theories about USAID. I hope you will share widely in your networks and on platforms, making sure to emphasize the following:

1. You may see a Super Bowl ad sponsored by Elon Musk that includes misinformation and conspiracy theories about USAID

2. In addition to providing humanitarian aid to the world’s poorest people, USAID is a major source of American soft power that has enabled us to counter global influence efforts of our adversaries — the Soviet Union during the Cold War and Russia and China today. Not for nothing, but Ivanka Trump used USAID as the vehicle for her women’s economic empowerment initiative!

3. Musk himself worked with USAID to bring his Starlink services to Ukraine. In fact, his beef with USAID may stem partly from USAID’s inspector general investigation into how those terminals were used to Russia’s benefit. (Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), has also suggested that Musk’s dismantling of USAID is an effort to curry favor with China, for whom USAID is a thorn in its side, so that he can market his self-driving cars there)

4. In addition to the millions of people around the world who are already suffering from the halting of aid, the funding cutoff also impacts billions of dollars that go to U.S. businesses and farmers that supply the food and humanitarian goods that go to these locations, impacting American jobs and our economy

We are entering a new era where an unelected billionaire controls a major communications platform and has enough money to utilize our other telecommunications channels to amplify mis- and disinformation that is against the interests of our country. The only way to even make a dent in countering this is for everyone to do their part, in their own social circle, to push back on this propaganda.