Over the past few months, most news surrounding Elon Musk has focused on the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its work on Capitol Hill. The newly created government office is making decisions that pose severe repercussions, most recently the firing of many federal government employees.
Even as speculation mounts that DOGE’s actions may not be legal and lawsuits against it pile up, Musk and his operatives don’t seem inclined to slow down.
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President Donald Trump appears highly focused on making significant changes to the federal government, ousting people in positions of power and replacing them with hand-selected candidates.
One recent appointee is Doug Collins, a former Georgia Congressman who currently serves as both Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Office of Government Ethics.
But before taking these positions, Collins served as Senior Advisor to a controversial group with ties to Musk that appears to have ceased all activity.
This story goes beyond a failed social media campaign
In May 2024, many social media users took note of a video ad that quickly picked up traction on X. Posted by a group called the Fair Election Fund, it featured the typical trimmings of a political ad, showcasing stock footage of images that reflected an unmistakable American theme.
The video quickly revealed its purpose, though, claiming evidence of widespread voter fraud and implying that President Joe Biden and the Democratic party bore responsibility.
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It offered a financial incentive to election workers, organizers, or just generally concerned citizens who could provide evidence of voter fraud, stating that they might be eligible for payment through the group’s $5 million fund.
A few months later, during the Summer 2024 Olympic Games, the group ran another ad along the same lines, which ended by telling viewers “You could be eligible for financial compensation. If you see something, say something,” calling to mind the type of TV spots often run by personal industry attorneys.
Even with the promise of a seemingly high payment, the group seems to have come up empty in its search for voter fraud evidence, as it did not report any success. According to Sitemap data, the organization’s webpage hasn’t been updated since October 2024 and its X page has been dormant since November 17.
However, this goes beyond a simple story of a failed social media campaign. According to an investigation conducted by Documented, the Fair Election Fund isn’t even the organization’s real name. As its team reports:
“The Fair Election Fund is a fictitious name for another 501(c)(4) non-profit, Documented can reveal, and operates within a network run by Musk’s top political advisers. The group received funding from the same dark-money vehicle Musk has used to channel his political spending, and also routed funds to another Musk-backed non-profit.”
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The fellow nonprofit with Musk’s backing seems to be Citizens for Sanity, a political action committee (PAC) that reportedly received more than $50 million in donations from Musk in 2022.
Documented reports that since then, Musk has channeled his political spending through a similar PAC called Building America’s Future.
The narrative on voter fraud has recently shifted substantially
The lack of action from both the Fair Election Fund’s webpage and social media channels suggests that the group has ceased operations, although it has neither confirmed nor denied this.
This may be due, at least in part, to the fact that its campaign to use financial incentives to compel voter fraud whistleblowers to come forward clearly did not yield any results. Even the promise of a substantial payout didn’t lead to any new information, which suggests no one had any.
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However, they also may not have any reason to continue seeking evidence of voter fraud as Trump is back in the White House.
A study from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Misinformation Review reveals that following Biden’s victory in 2020, claims of voter fraud reached unprecedented levels. Since Trump’s victory in November 2024, though, the narrative seems to have shifted from both conservative personalities and groups.
NBC News reports that throughout the 2024 election season, unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud dominated social media platforms, specifically Elon Musk’s X, which used artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as Grok to boost posts.
The outlet cites one example of Grok spreading a story of a voting machine in Texas flipping ballots, reporting “X’s AI software promoted posts alleging that there were multiple examples, but only one voter came forward and his claim was not verified.”
Musk himself has a history of engaging with and sharing X posts that share unsubstantiated voter fraud claims. But like the Fair Election Fund, he has mostly stopped since the 2024 election.
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