Left-Wing ‘Starlink’ Election Conspiracy Theory Spreads Online

An election conspiracy theory is spreading on social media alleging that billionaire Elon Musk hacked the 2024 election in favor of President-elect Donald Trump using his Starlink satellite internet company.

Left-wing conspiracy theorists allege that Starlink, a satellite constellation developed by Musk’s SpaceX designed to provide high-speed broadband internet across the globe, was connected to the voting machine supply chain.

In 2020, right-wing conspiracy theories nearly upended the peaceful transfer of power after President Joe Biden‘s victory over then-President Trump. These false claims, some amplified by Trump leading up to the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, were widely condemned by Democrats and left-wing supporters. However, unlike the turmoil of 2020, neither Democratic nominee Kamala Harris nor Biden are fueling the conspiracies following the election defeat.

A 9-minute TikTok video by the account @etheria77 states, for starters, that “California and other swing states were able to use Starlink in order to tally up and to count voting ballots in their state.”

The video was shared to X by the @AesPolitics1 account and now has been viewed over 1.6 million times as of Sunday morning.

“This woman just made the most convincing case for Biden to investigate the election. She exposes Starlink,” AesPolitics1 wrote in the X post above the video.

The @AnAct4Progress account, who has “Biden Harris & Harris Walz” in its X bio, attempted to back those claims by replying to the viral post, with a video of podcaster Joe Rogan explaining that Musk allegedly knew that Trump would defeat Vice President Kamala Harris “four hours before the election was called.”

Newsweek has reached out to Musk on Sunday morning via the X media contact email.

Meanwhile, the conspiracy theories surrounding Starlink’s ability to hack the election in favor of Trump seem to fall flat.

According to the Associated Press last month, voting machines are, generally, not connected to the internet. With a few exceptions, however, there are some jurisdictions in a few states that permit ballot scanners to transmit unofficial results using a mobile private network after voting ends on Election Day, and after memory cards containing the vote tallies have been removed.

When an internet connection is necessary, election officials typically utilize private networks to reduce the risk of malicious activity. They also take additional measures to scan their systems for potential vulnerabilities and threats.

Chip Trowbridge, the chief technology officer of Clear Ballot, a voting system manufacturer tested and approved by the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC), told ABC News last month, “Those systems absolutely cannot have any network,” he said. “In fact, if you look at the machines from Clear Ballot, the only wire that comes out of them is a power cord.”

Trowbridge added that machines used to scan ballots at voting precincts aren’t capable of having any Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, radio or network connection at all.

Voting machines became central to numerous conspiracy theories following the 2020 election, with baseless claims suggesting they were manipulated to fraudulently remove the presidency from Trump. Thorough investigations in key battleground states where Trump contested his defeat to President Joe Biden found no evidence of widespread fraud or rigged voting machines, confirming the election results as accurate.

In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems, a leading voting machine company, $787 million to settle a defamation lawsuit and avoid trial.

Musk, the leader of SpaceX, Tesla and X, formerly Twitter, endorsed Trump for president earlier this year, and his super PAC held a $1 million daily giveaway to registered voters in swing states.

Following his endorsement of the GOP presidential nominee, Musk poured millions of his own dollars into donations to pro-Trump super PACs, as well as joined Trump during campaign rallies.

Musk, himself, stoked voting machine falsehoods during the campaign, telling a crowd at an October town hall in Pennsylvania, “The last thing I would do is trust a computer program, because it’s just too easy to hack.”

What Is Elon Musk’s Starlink?

Starlink is a satellite constellation developed by SpaceX and was designed to provide high-speed broadband internet, particularly in remote areas. Unlike traditional communication satellites placed in geostationary orbits (around 22,000 miles above Earth), Starlink satellites operate in low earth orbit, at about 342 miles above the ground. This lower altitude reduces latency (delay in data transmission across a network), allowing for faster communication speeds.

“Starlink is ideally suited for areas where connectivity has been unreliable or completely unavailable,” Starlink’s website says. “People across the globe are using Starlink to gain access to education, health services and even communications support during natural disasters.”

Areas where Starlink’s network is available can be seen in a map on its website. Most of North America, Western Europe and Australia are covered.

Trump had high praise for Musk, SpaceX and Starlink satellites in his election night victory speech.

Trump specifically lauded Starlink, describing how he discussed with Musk the satellites’ use in the wake of Hurricane Helene’s destruction in North Carolina and Hurricane Milton’s impacts across Florida.

This comes as Musk’s SpaceX made Starlink internet service free for people living in areas affected by the hurricanes across Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia—but only until the end of the year.

A Starlink receiver is required to access the Starlink network and costs $349. SpaceX reportedly distributed 10,000 receiver kits in the storm-hit areas.

“He had that there so fast. It was incredible,” Trump said. “So and it was great. It saved a lot of lives. He saved a lot of lives. But he’s a character. He’s a special guy. He’s a super genius. We have to protect our geniuses. We don’t have that many of them. We have to.”

How Many Satellites Does Starlink Have?

So far, 7,213 Starlink satellites have been launched into space, 6,554 of which are still in orbit, with 6,499 remaining functional, according to astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks the constellation on his website.

This means that Starlink makes up roughly half of all satellites in orbit around the Earth. As of September 20, there were 13,230 satellites in space, about 10,200 of which are still functioning, according to the European Space Agency.

SpaceX hopes to eventually have as many as 42,000 satellites orbiting around the Earth, in a mega-constellation.

Update: 11/10/2024, 2:33 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with more information.

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