The Musk tracker
A sourced record of 212 statements and actions by Elon Musk and his companies since 2022: interventions in the politics, governments, courts and regulation of 43 countries and the European Union, threats and legal action against critics, and the use of market power against competitors. Each entry sets out what he said or did, the background, the response and what happened next.
Claims about countries that governments, courts or fact-checkers disputed or found false.
Musk was present but did not speak publicly as President Trump played videos and showed articles he said proved white farmers were being killed. Trump said Elon wanted
Afrikaners admitted to the US as refugees.
Response: Ramaphosa said the videos did not reflect government policy, that There is criminality in our country,
and asked where an alleged burial site was located.
South Africa4 sourcesxAI's Grok chatbot repeatedly brought up white genocide
in South Africa in replies to unrelated questions on X. xAI said an employee's unauthorized modification
had directed it to give a specific response on a political topic, violating company policies.
Response: xAI said it would publish Grok's system prompts, change review processes and set up a 24/7 monitoring team (AFP via JusticeInfo.net).
South Africa4 sourcesIn the Oval Office on 11 February Musk said DOGE had found people in there that are 150 years old
in Social Security data; on 16 February he posted a table of people in each age bracket with the death field set to false, and the next day posted "Maybe Twili…
Response: Acting SSA Commissioner Lee Dudek said These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits
(FactCheck.org; CBS News).
United States3 sourcesMusk wrote to President Ramaphosa on X: Why do you have openly racist ownership laws?
following President Trump's claim that South Africa was confiscating land and his threat to cut funding.
Response: The Presidency said Ramaphosa spoke with Musk about issues of misinformation and distortions
about South Africa. Ramaphosa said the government had not confiscated any land; the foreign ministry sai…
South Africa4 sourcesMusk wrote that USAID was a criminal organization
and that It needs to die,
and said on an X livestream that DOGE was in the process of shutting it down (NPR). He also promoted a claim that the US had planned to spend $50 million on condoms for Gaza (CNN).
Response: Senator Chuck Schumer said dissolving USAID would be illegal and against our national interests
(NPR).
United States3 sourcesThe New York Times reported that Musk met Iran's UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani in New York on 11 November 2024 to discuss easing tensions between Tehran and Washington, citing Iranian sources who called it positive.
Response: Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei categorically
denied the meeting took place and called the reports false
(IRNA, via The New Arab and Salon).
Iran2 sourcesThe Wall Street Journal reported that Musk and Vladimir Putin had been in regular contact since 2022, discussing personal, business and geopolitical matters, and that Putin asked Musk to avoid activating Starlink over Taiwan as a favour to Xi Jinping.
Response: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: It's all untrue, absolutely false information,
acknowledging only one earlier phone call with Musk about space and technology.
Russia2 sourcesMusk posted Michigan has more registered voters than eligible citizens!? Is that true @CommunityNotes?
and later posted that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was lying to the public (CBS Detroit).
Response: Benson said Musk was spreading dangerous disinformation
and was pushing a misleading number that includes 1.2 million inactive records slated for removal in accordance with the law
(PolitiFact; C…
United States2 sourcesMusk posted that FEMA is not merely failing to adequately help people in trouble, but is actively blocking citizens who try to help!
and relayed claims that relief flights, including those carrying Starlink kits, were being blocked in North Carolina after H…
Response: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg replied: No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn't block legitimate rescue and recovery flights.
FEMA said claims it was confiscating supplies wer…
United States2 sourcesThe Center for Countering Digital Hate identified 50 posts Musk shared between 1 January and 31 July 2024 containing election claims that fact-checkers had rated false or misleading, including claims that Democrats were importing voters through illegal immigr…
Response: CCDH chief executive Imran Ahmed said Musk was abusing his position as owner of a politically influential platform. X responded to Mother Jones with an automated message and did not respond to AFP.
United States2 sourcesMusk reposted a post by Britain First co-leader Ashlea Simon showing a purported Telegraph headline that Starmer was considering emergency detainment camps
on the Falkland Islands for rioters, adding 'Detainment Camps'…
. He deleted it within about 30 minu…
Response: The Telegraph said it had published no such article and that Starmer had considered no such thing.
United Kingdom3 sourcesAfter President Biden withdrew from the race, X's AI chatbot Grok told users that ballot deadlines had passed in nine states, implying Kamala Harris could not be added. Five secretaries of state wrote to Musk asking that Grok direct election questions to CanI…
Response: The letter said Grok continued to repeat this false information for more than a week
before it was corrected on 31 July 2024. X did not immediately respond (Minnesota Reformer).
United States3 sourcesResponding to footage of rioting in England, Musk posted Civil war is inevitable.
Over the following days he tagged Prime Minister Keir Starmer in posts including Why aren't all communities protected in Britain?
and #TwoTierKeir
.
Response: Starmer's spokesman said There's no justification for comments like that
; justice minister Heidi Alexander called the posts deeply irresponsible
; Technology Secretary Peter Kyle described Musk to…
United Kingdom3 sourcesMusk reposted a video that used an AI-generated imitation of Vice President Kamala Harris's voice, captioning it amazing
with a laughing emoji and no parody label. Malay Mail reported it drew more than 128 million views on his account.
Response: California Governor Gavin Newsom posted that the video should be illegal
; Musk replied that parody is legal in America (Axios). Senator Amy Klobuchar said the post violated X's guidelines, and the…
United States3 sourcesMusk wrote We should eliminate electronic voting machines,
citing hacking risk. When former IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said Indian EVMs were secure, Musk replied Anything can be hacked.
Response: Chandrasekhar wrote that Indian EVMs are custom designed, secure and isolated from any network or media
and called Musk's view a huge sweeping generalisation.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote t…
India2 sourcesUkraine's military intelligence said Russian units were using Starlink terminals and released audio it attributed to Russian soldiers. Musk wrote that reports of SpaceX selling terminals to Russia were categorically false
and that "To the best of our knowle…
Response: Ukrainian intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said Russian use was becoming systemic.
Speaking at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles, Musk said Taiwan is an integral part of China that is arbitrarily not part of China
and that it may be analogous to Hawaii
from Beijing's standpoint.
Response: Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu wrote on X: Listen up, Taiwan is not part of the PRC & certainly not for sale!
and added he hoped Musk could ask the CCP to open X to its people.
After EFF leader Julius Malema led the Kill the Boer
chant at a rally, Musk wrote that they were openly pushing for
genocide of white people in South Africa and asked why President Ramaphosa had not responded.
Response: Malema said Musk looks like an illiterate
and that This matter is closed.
The Democratic Alliance said it would complain to the UN Human Rights Council; Freedom Front Plus opened a criminal case…
South Africa3 sourcesIn a CNBC interview, Musk said The official policy of China is that Taiwan should be integrated
and There's a certain inevitability to the situation.
Response: Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu wrote on Twitter, addressing Musk: other than money, there is something we call VALUES.
In a Financial Times interview, Musk proposed a special administrative zone for Taiwan that is reasonably palatable
and said an arrangement could be more lenient than Hong Kong.
Reuters and The Independent reported that he also said he considered conflict…
Response: China's ambassador to the US, Qin Gang, thanked Musk and restated Beijing's peaceful reunification
and One Country, Two Systems
principles. Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the US, Hsiao Bi-khim,…
Musk posted a Twitter poll on a plan to end the war: UN-supervised re-runs of the annexation referendums, Crimea formally part of Russia, assured water supply to Crimea, and Ukraine remaining neutral. A follow-up poll asked whether people of Donbas and Crimea…
Response: President Zelensky posted a poll asking Which @elonmusk do you like more?
(one supporting Ukraine, one supporting Russia). Diplomat Andrij Melnyk replied with an expletive. The Kremlin called it a…
Musk tweeted: I hereby challenge Vladimir Putin to single combat,
naming Ukraine as the stakes.
Response: Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin replied by citing a poem about a young little devil
; Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov mocked Musk and invited him to train in Chechnya; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sa…
Ukraine
Taiwan
China