He opted instead to go where the young far-right voters are. That's where he expects to exert power by selecting and shifting messages.

He didn't buy 4chan. He bought Twitter. This isn't a matter of conspiracy theory nonsense. Its just him trying to make more money and misunderstanding the market.

Acquiring 4chan would be much too obvious. Also, it would not give neither plausible deniability nor a varnish of legitimacy to the manoeuvre.

It works very well. Go read on Twitter the accounts that are 'Tesla fanbois' - WholeMarsBlog, Teslanomics etc.

At this point it's a cult and the adulation of Musk and whatever he does or says is good. No doubt Musk loves it.

For example, everybody knows Musk is a pretty much non-existent father. He was called lying about stuff no sane person would even try to lie (like for example that his newborn died in his arms... which his wife denied). And yet, any time he shows his latest child with him, all those cult members are posting pictures, texts etc. praising how a wonderful father Elon is. And he shares and likes these messages !

Well... If you come to think of it, being an absent father is a good thing for all those kids. If I were one, I'd prefer he were on a different planet altogether.