Tesla CEO Elon Musk is a prolific spreader and amplifier of misinformation on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, a new report alleges.
An analysis from NewsGuard shows that Musk has advanced at least 17 false narratives from the group’s misinformation database, from sharing a video promoting the narrative that Haitians eat pets to accusing Democrats of "importing voters." The billionaire also frequently amplifies some of the platform’s worst offenders in terms of spreading false claims: of the five accounts he interacts with most frequently, four are "misinformation superspreaders" who have grown their followings as a result.
One account, @EndWokeness, which spread racist lies about Haitian immigrants, experienced a 30% follower count bump in the six months in which Musk repeatedly boosted it. Another, @libsoftiktok, whose anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric inspired bomb threats at a children's hospital and who falsely claimed that schools had provided litter boxes to children who identify as cats, saw a 14.8% growth in their following.
On Tuesday, Musk engaged with a report from @EndWokeness criticizing George Soros’ company's acquisition of a radio station group, writing “Crazy” in a quote-tweet that’s been viewed 29 million times.
Two other accounts that experienced massive boosts from Musk either amplified or outright invented conspiracy theories suggesting that Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign adopted a Nazi slogan; that Ukraine sold weapons to Hamas; and that Venezuelan immigrants had overtaken an apartment complex.
The amplifications come amid concerns that Musk, who has taken an increasingly extreme tone, has an enormously wide-reaching platform.
Musk, who has raised concerns with recent posts that appeared to encourage violence against Harris and President Joe Biden, boasts nearly 200 million followers on X, a 19% increase since January of this year.
In comparison, NewsGuard’s analysis found that some of the largest mainstream accounts on the platform, including legacy media outlets, saw stagnant growth or follower declines.
The analysis follows past findings from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which in August published a report identifying 50 instances of Musk posting false election claims in 2024, accruing nearly 1.2 billion views. Musk lost a July 2023 lawsuit against the center in which he accused it of conspiring to drive advertisers off his X platform.
Musk, who initially purchased Twitter with the purported intention of increasing transparency and freedom of speech on the platform, oversaw a rise in hateful content and lies on the platform while making moderation tweaks to crack down on some speech, banning words like “cisgender” from X.
Musk has also reportedly used the X platform to stop the spread of information he finds disagreeable, censoring recent reporting on Trump campaign documents hacked by the Iranian government, suspending pro-Harris organizations on the platform and flagging unflattering reports about the Trump campaign as spam in recent weeks.
Read more
about Elon Musk and misinformation
Shares