1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Greetings. I am a voting constituent in rural west Texas. Yesterday (8/2/24), Brian Schwartz of CNBC reported that Elon Musk and other tech executives are putting their money behind a social media ad campaign for Trump and Vance, and are creating targeted ads in swing states by collecting information about voters under false pretenses. According to Schwartz, their America PAC says it helps viewers register to vote. And, indeed, the ads direct would-be voters in nonswing states to voter registration sites. But people responding to the ad in swing states are not sent to registration sites. Instead, they are presented with “a highly detailed personal information form [and] prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age,” handing over “priceless personal data to a political operation” that can then create ads aimed at that person’s demographic and target them personally in door-to-door campaigns. After getting the information, the site simply says, “Thank you,” without directing the viewer toward a registration site. Is Elon Musk going to be allowed to control our democratic processes by virtue of his wealth and power? To meddle and subvert the power of our vote simply because he has the power bestowed on him by great wealth? Great wealth that allows him to buy politicians? And anything else he wants? What are you going to do about this? What can you do about this? What will you do about this? Anything at all?