Conor McGregor’s short-lived presidential campaign spread misinformation, personal attacks, and extremist rhetoric to a global audience, according to a new report from EDMO Ireland.
The study, From Free Speech to Violent Rhetoric: Elon Musk’s X as a Threat to Electoral Integrity, examined 127 posts from McGregor’s X (formerly Twitter) account between January and September 2025. It found that:
58% of posts contained false claims about the Irish presidency, constitution, or history.
28% included ethnonationalist rhetoric, while others attacked government figures as “traitors” or enemies of the people.
At least six posts implied political violence, targeting migrants and public officials.
Platform safeguards failed: 23 posts attracted suggested fact-checks from X’s Community Notes, but none were activated.
The report highlights the role of Elon Musk, owner of X, who endorsed McGregor’s candidacy, engaged with his posts, and amplified misinformation about the Irish election process to his 226 million followe
EDMO Ireland have released their review of Conor MCGregor's Online campaign for #Aras25.
McGregor's post about his Presidential ambitions included extremist rhetoric, conspiratoral framings, political disinformation which X/Twitter's fact checking system has failed to effectively intervene.
