When misinformation spreads in 2024, it often has Elon Musk’s fingerprints on it.

PolitiFact analyzed more than 450 X posts Musk made from Sept. 30 to Oct. 14, including reposts, quote replies and some standard replies to various X users.

That period spanned disaster response in parts of the Southeast U.S. hit hard by hurricanes Helene and Milton, the Oct. 1 vice presidential debate in New York and former President Donald Trump’s return to Butler, Pennsylvania — where Trump was nearly assassinated three months earlier.

In two years owning the platform formerly called Twitter, Musk has overseen a policy overhaul that dramatically loosened safeguards to prevent misinformation’s spread. Our analysis shows his own posts embody this shift — in the two weeks we analyzed, Musk promoted misleading or inaccurate content most days to a massive audience.

He berated the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its response to Hurricane Helene’s destruction in North Carolina, repeatedly sharing false claims about federal workers blocking aid. He amplified the false narrative that the Biden-Harris administration took money from FEMA’s disaster relief and spent it on immigrants.

Musk — who was born in South Africa in 1971 and became a U.S. citizen in 2002 — continued his long-standing election year pattern of sharing falsehoods about immigrants and the immigration process, including baselessly claiming that immigrants have or will vote in U.S. elections.

He also promoted false claims about voting, including disparaging and mischaracterizing a new California law related to voter IDs.

Emerson Brooking, a senior fellow and director of strategy at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, said Musk doesn’t control what people believe, but “does meaningfully control” the content millions of people see each day.

“This agenda-setting is his real power,” Brooking said.

Musk’s reach is vast. He has more than 202 million X followers, who regularly view and interact with his posts.

The misinformation-containing posts we analyzed over these two weeks received nearly 679 million views, more than 5.3 million likes and over 1.6 million reposts.

As he spread erroneous claims, Musk promoted his companies and lauded their events and technologies — all while repeatedly encouraging people to vote for Trump.

Musk endorsed Trump after a gunman tried to kill the former president July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Since then, Musk has donated millions of dollars to a pro-Trump political action committee, spoken at a Trump rally and hosted pro-Trump town halls. In September, Trump said that if he is elected, he wants Musk to oversee a commission that would audit the federal government’s finances and performance.

Musk deepened his involvement with the Trump campaign in the 2024 election’s final weeks, sharing claims that aim to hurt Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and the federal government and help Trump — even if those claims are inaccurate or unsubstantiated, said Mike Rothschild, a journalist, author and conspiracy theory expert.

Musk’s extensive audience and global reputation serve to legitimize the falsehoods he promotes, experts said.

Neither Musk, his lawyer, X, SpaceX or Starlink responded to PolitiFact’s inquiries for this story. Starlink, a satellite communications company, has figured in some of the false narratives about hurricane relief.

Amplifying or generating false narratives and sharing uncorroborated, misleading posts

Over the 14 days we analyzed, Musk’s misleading or inaccurate posts focused primarily on hurricane relief, immigration and voting.

Federal hurricane response: On Sept. 30, six days after Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida and caused severe flooding throughout the Southeast, Musk reposted the pro-Trump Libs of TikTok X account’s post criticizing FEMA’s disaster response and blaming the agency’s stated focus on “equity” for hindering relief.

“The whole US government has been doing this,” Musk wrote Sept. 30 along with his repost. On Oct. 6, Musk’s line of criticism went further when he reposted a False claim from End Wokeness, a pro-Trump X account with 3.1 million followers, asserting that FEMA was focusing its disaster relief on LGBTQ+ people.

That’s inaccurate: FEMA has prioritized “equity” as an organizational goal, but that comes after decades of complaints that its past disaster response efforts harmed people in underserved communities. Today, its strategic plan counts the underserved as religious minorities, people of color, people with disabilities, people in rural areas or impoverished people — it doesn’t prioritize LGBTQ+ people for disaster relief.

Also in October, Musk reposted a claim that said the agency had been “steadily transformed” into “an illegal alien resettlement agency that emphasizes DEI over public safety.” “This is crazy,” Musk wrote, as if the post’s claims were accurate. “FEMA’s top priority is supposed to be saving the lives of America(n) citizens.” (DEI stands for diversity, equity and inclusion.)

(Screenshots/X)

But this portrayal of FEMA’s work is wrong. FEMA has funded migrants’ food, shelter and transportation through two programs that give money to nonprofits and state and local governments. This began under Trump’s administration in 2019, and that funding does not come out of the agency’s Disaster Relief Fund.

At least nine times from Sept. 30 to Oct. 14, Musk repeated this false narrative that FEMA spent disaster relief funds on migrants.

He also reshared photos amplifying the claim that Trump went to deliver Helene survivors supplies while Biden “was at the beach all weekend” and Harris “staged a phone call photo.” The Biden beach photo was taken about a month before Hurricane Helene hit Florida and there’s no evidence Harris’ phone call wasn’t real. The administration’s Hurricane Helene response continued that weekend.

On Oct. 4, Musk posted a series of anecdotes and screenshots promoting the False claim that FEMA and the Federal Aviation Administration were blocking flights with hurricane emergency supplies including Musk’s Starlink devices, which let people connect to the internet.

(Screenshots/X)

Those posts accumulated so much attention that U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Buttigieg responded on X, writing, “No one is shutting down the airspace and FAA doesn’t block legitimate rescue and recovery flights,” and encouraging Musk to contact him with issues. After Musk expressed initial difficulty contacting Buttigieg, they appeared to have connected and resolved the issue, with Musk writing, “Thanks for helping simplify the FAA (Notice to Airmen). Support flights are now underway. Much appreciated.”

Afterward, Buttigieg told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki that he spoke by phone with Musk and helped clarify some confusion that the pilots trying to deliver Starlink devices had experienced.

Immigrants and immigration: On Oct. 2, Musk reshared a post from Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, who argued that a Federal Reserve study showed immigrants drive up housing costs. That’s Mostly False: Experts agree that increased immigration increases demand for limited housing, but it’s not the primary factor driving high housing prices.

Musk also used his X account to boost falsehoods about U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s CBP One app, which migrants use to schedule appointments for processing with immigration officials. Contrary to Musk’s claims, the app does not give migrants entry to the U.S. or provide free flights. ​

If you read and believed Musk’s X posts, you would think that immigrants are illegally voting in U.S. elections: He has pushed this falsehood on X since January.

Only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections, and it takes many years for lawful permanent residents to become citizens and gain voting rights.

Yet, in the window we analyzed, Musk repeated and reposted variations of this baseless narrative at least at least seven times, including twice Oct. 3, when Musk wrote, “Dems are doing deliberate voter importation to swing states & fast-tracking them to citizenship” to change the election outcome and, in a separate post, said it was “only a matter of time before the illegals in the swing states are legally able to vote.”

His falsehoods about immigration went beyond claims about immigrants voting illegally, too:

• On Oct. 5, he amplified a Fox News graphic and claimed that “the Biden/Harris Administration knowingly released” 13,099 immigrants in the U.S. illegally who had been convicted of homicide. That’s False.
• On Oct. 12 and Oct. 13, Musk inaccurately characterized increased immigration as “an invasion.”
• On Oct. 14, Musk reshared a story about gangs taking “control of several properties in Aurora, Colorado” and described it as “insane.” In September, PolitiFact reported that city officials and residents say there is no Venezuelan gang “takeover” in Aurora, Colorado, a city about 10 miles east of Denver.

Election fraud and voter ID laws: Starting Sept. 30, Musk claimed a new California law made “PREVENTING voter fraud against the law.” On Oct. 5, he said the law made it “literally impossible to prove fraud there now.”

That’s inaccurate. A new law added a provision to California’s election code that prohibits local governments from requiring voter IDs at polling places. It didn’t change the state’s ability to prosecute falsifying voter registration information, which is a felony. Preexisting California law said that most voters were not required to provide ID when voting in person and voter fraud, although infrequent, has been prosecuted before.

On Oct. 1 and Oct. 5, Musk reshared pro-voter ID requirement lists that said people need IDs to board planes, get prescriptions and drive — but not to vote. We’ve repeatedly rated similar lists Mostly False because, in 36 states, voters are required or asked to present identification at the polls and federal law requires first-time voters to show ID when they request mail ballots.

(Screenshots/X)

Later Oct. 1, Musk added the word “wow” and amplified Trump’s baseless claim that California enacted its new law preventing governments from requiring voter IDs because Democrats “want to cheat on elections.” In the post Musk reshared, an X user said “election fraud is rampant in California.” But it’s not: Voter fraud is rare in California.

Who is in Musk’s orbit on X?

Most of the people in Musk’s digital orbit are conservative influencers. Sometimes, he amplified Republican U.S. politicians such as Trump, Vance and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah. Other times he reshared lesser-known people affiliated with the “Benny Johnson Show” or X webshows, which are audio and sometimes video podcasts hosted on X.

Musk almost exclusively interacts with blue-check X subscribers or accounts boasting gray checks, which represent official government organizations or officials, or gold checks, which represent official verified organizations. In most cases, accounts with blue checks subscribe to Musk’s X premium service, which enables users to edit posts and exceed X’s usual character limits. A subscription also means X “prioritizes” a user’s replies over replies from users who are not subscribed.

(PolitiFact has a blue check on X but is not subscribed to X premium.)

In more than 450 posts, we found that Musk reposted or quote-posted just one person without a blue, gray or gold check. That person was an Australia-based user with about 128,000 X followers who describes himself as “anti-totalitarian left” and “pro-West, pro-social democracy.”

Excluding reposts of content from his various companies and organizations — including SpaceX, Starlink, Tesla and his pro-Trump America PAC — in the two weeks we analyzed Musk most frequently quote-posted or reposted three fairly obscure accounts, each with blue-check subscriptions: DogeDesigner, or @cb_doge, an account Musk interacted with at least 27 times; Mario Nawfal, or @MarioNawfal, whose posts Musk interacted with 22 times; and Alex, or @ajtourville, whose posts Must interacted with 21 times. Occasionally, those accounts shared misinformation that Musk then amplified to his followers.

DogeDesigner and Alex, @ajtourville, regularly post about Tesla, SpaceX or Musk. Alex was the source of some misleading claims Musk shared about voting and voter ID laws. On Oct. 21, DogeDesigner encouraged people to join Musk’s new X Community purportedly “focused on exposing voter fraud.” Musk reposted that encouragement. Nawfal hosts an X Spaces show about cryptocurrency and also posts about politics, with some emphasis on free speech and immigration.

In our analysis, Musk most frequently amplified posts from these three accounts. (Screenshots/X)

More often, however, the falsehoods Musk shared stemmed from more well-known misinformers, including pro-Trump political activist Charlie Kirk, the head of Turning Point USA, and other far-right groups and accounts known to spread misinformation including End Wokeness, Libs of TikTok and America First Legal, a legal advocacy group launched by former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller.

Musk increases misinformation’s reach and can legitimize falsehoods, experts say

Hit with a barrage of false claims about Hurricanes Helene and Milton, federal, state and local officials repeatedly warned that the disinformation spread could impede disaster relief and can cause people to avoid seeking the help they need.

“Our number one goal is for survivors to get the assistance that they deserve, that they need so they can recover,” FEMA Press Secretary Daniel Llargues told PolitiFact Oct. 6. “All of this noise and misinformation may prevent some people from coming to us for assistance.”

Deen Freelon, a presidential professor at University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, said Musk’s status as X’s most-followed user and world’s richest man give him “massive power and attention.”

“Fans trust and adore their idols,” and with that trust and adoration, those idols can shape fans’ beliefs and perceptions, Freelon said. “So when someone like Musk posts misinformation, many of his fans will embrace it as the gospel truth.”

The X posts that prompted a call with Buttigieg exemplified how Musk’s online activities can demand attention offline. Musk “can certainly force other powerful people to listen to him,” Brooking of Digital Forensic Research Lab said.

Rothschild said Musk is appearing at Trump rallies, talking to Cabinet members and “pumping a giant amount of money into Trump’s campaign.”

“The biggest concern is (Musk’s) status on the far right as a truth-teller of ‘forbidden narratives,’” he said. That reputation and the sheer size of his following extends misinformation’s reach.

“When he shares this nonsense, he’s sharing it with an audience primed to believe it and share it with others,” Rothschild said.

Our data supports this, showing Musk reached millions of users with inaccurate information in just two weeks.

As PolitiFact was writing this story, Musk propelled another misleading election claim into social media users’ feeds — that Michigan, a swing state, has more registered voters than eligible citizens.

“These extra ballots represent a huge risk of election fraud,” read the Oct. 19 image he reshared from a pro-Trump account that says it shares “conservative headlines w/ a Dash of Satire and Ai.”

They don’t. “Musk is pushing a misleading number that includes 1.2 million inactive records slated for removal in accordance with the law,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson responded on X.

By sheer numbers of views recorded, Benson’s post with the accurate information outpaced Musk’s misleading claim — 33 million to 32.2 million, according to X’s metrics. But the metrics also showed that although many X users read it, her message did not generate the same kind of engaged support.

A tenth as many accounts liked Benson’s fact-check as they did Musk’s post — 16,000 compared with 166,000 — and Musk’s false information was reshared nearly nine times more often, despite a community note being attached to it noting it was factually flawed.

When Musk followed up a day later to accuse Benson of “blatantly lying to the public,” his post again drew more than 31 million views, with 170,000 likes and 47,000 reshares.

About 2.8% as many people, meanwhile, saw Benson’s retort, and less than 1% of those accounts bothered to like or repost it.

“In Michigan,” Benson wrote, addressing Musk by name, “we tell the truth and we follow the law. I suggest you do the same.”

PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

This fact check was originally published by PolitiFact, which is part of the Poynter Institute. See the sources for this fact check here.