Michigan’s secretary of state is investigating a super PAC backed by Elon Musk over the group’s acquisition of voter information.
CNBC reported Friday that America PAC, which Musk has said he created and helped fund amid his open support for Donald Trump, created a website ostensibly meant for voter registration — but it acts differently depending on who uses it.
If a user lives in a state that is not considered competitive in the presidential election, like California or Wyoming for example, they’ll be prompted to enter their email addresses and ZIP code and then directed quickly to a voter registration page for their state, or back to the original sign-up section.
But for users who enter a ZIP code that indicates they live in a battleground state, like Pennsylvania or Georgia, the process is very different.
Rather than be directed to their state’s voter registration page, they instead are directed to a highly detailed personal information form, prompted to enter their address, cellphone number and age.
If they agree to submit all that, the system still does not steer them to a voter registration page. Instead, it shows them a “thank you” page.
CNBC aptly noted that this meant people in battleground states who visited the site “got no help at all” with voter registration, but “they did hand over priceless personal data to a political operation” — data that someone like Musk, who owns a social media platform rife with right-wing disinformation, could easily use to microtarget voters with ads in the lead-up to November.
On that note, a spokesperson for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office said the state agency is reviewing Musk’s PAC out of concern for how the voter data is being used.
“Every citizen should know exactly how their personal information is being used by PACs, especially if an entity is claiming it will help people register to vote in Michigan or any other state,” a spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state’s office said in a statement to CNBC.
“While the America PAC is a federal political action committee, the Department is reviewing their activities to determine if there have been any violations of state law. We will refer potential violations to the Michigan Attorney General’s office as appropriate,” the spokeswoman added.
The result of the Michigan investigation may show that America PAC is operating completely within state law. Even so, that wouldn’t preclude how its website behaves from being unethical or downright eerie. CNBC reported that a person with direct knowledge of the PAC’s operations says that the group is planning to launch a new website soon. (CNBC said an America PAC spokesperson declined to comment and that Musk did not return emails seeking comment.)
CNBC’s report serves as a timely reminder to be wary of “broligarchs,” a term that has emerged for rich white men in tech — like Musk — who desperately want to elect Trump and reap personal gains from the access they seem to feel will come as a result.
