The billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is due to interview the Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, on the Ex-Social Media Network in just a few hours time. The event could provide former President Trump the opportunity to seize the limelight at a time when his campaign appears to have lost some momentum. But it's raised questions about the power of the Ex-Social Media Network and how Elon Musk is using it. Let's cross live to Julia Manchester, political reporter at The Hill. Julia, What's the response at the moment to this upcoming interview?

Well, look, it's certainly interesting because this is the first time we've seen Trump and Elon Musk sit down in an interview on X. Now, you'll remember that just over a year ago, we saw Elon Musk interview Florida governor Ron DeSantis shortly after he launched his presidential campaign. Obviously, Ron DeSantis eventually suspended his presidential campaign. But that interview was really riddled with a number of technical difficulties difficulties. It seemed to just be a very poor rollout. Elon Musk and Ron DeSantis got some backlash for that rollout for that interview. So it'll be interesting to see how this one goes. I imagine that it's taken Over a year, Elon Musk has been able to, and the X team have maybe been able to iron through some of those technical difficulties. But definitely something to watch, considering these two men are people who are very much trying to cater towards a very similar audience, a conservative leaning audience, an audience that isn't as friendly with Democrats. So it'll be interesting to watch.

Obviously, it raises questions about the power, the political power that can be used by the owner of this vast network, and questions about what the US government and other governments could do to regulate and control and limit that power. The European Commission we see today, is just written to Elon Musk, reminding of his legal responsibilities around harmful content and public disorder. Ahead of that interview, also, a warning of interim measures if it breaches the rules. Is there that concern now? Of course, there'll be a lot of different political views on this.

Yeah, absolutely. I think the European mindset on this and the American mindset is very different. I think in the US, freedom of speech, freedom of expressions, obviously, being drilled into our mindset, into how we do journalism and such. But there is a question, obviously, because Elon Musk is not a journalism journalist the same way you and I are. He owns a company. He's able to have that influence as the leader of this company. So this is unprecedented in many ways. But I think there is also the argument that X, formerly known as Twitter, is maybe not as influential financial as it once was. I mean, now people, oftentimes before, you didn't have to pay for it. You don't have to pay for it now, but to get some of these special features, you have to pay. And just watching the website and it evolved. It doesn't seem to have the same power and influence as it used to be with a lot of people maybe experimenting with other platforms like threads on Facebook or Meta that hasn't taken off the same way X has or Twitter has. But there's a lot of questions as to how influential this will be.

But if a presidential candidate like Donald Trump is taking part in this, and obviously Elon Musk being someone who has endorsed Donald Trump, it'll certainly be something to watch.

Julia, everyone's obviously watching the polls. It'll be interesting to see whether the swing voters in the swing states are influenced by this interview. It comes, of course, ahead of the DNC Convention next week. We're just hearing that President Biden is going to speak at that, I think. But it is a massive amplification opportunity for Donald Trump to get his message out, isn't it?

It is, but I would push back on that a little bit because I don't think the majority of American voters are on X or are even paying attention to X. It's not the primary source of how people get, our voters get their media here in the US. Yes, it is massive, but I don't think it's the most massive amplification. Even on broadcast, cable networks, right leaning networks that Donald Trump oftentimes does interviews with, those same clips are amplified on social media, whether it be X or Instagram or TikTok, etc. But I think we all need to sit and remember that the majority of American voters won't be tuning into this interview live the same way they may be tuning into broadcast or cable. I don't think broadcast or cable are necessarily the future when it comes to political communication. I mean, it's still going to be a part of that. But X still isn't at that level yet, I would say.

Julia Manchester at the Hill. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank.