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Elon Musk didn't threaten to suspend X users who mock him. Post is fabricated | Fact check
The claim: Image shows Elon Musk post threatening to suspend social media users who mock him
A Nov. 20 Threads post (direct link, archive link) shows what appears to be a screenshot of a post on X, formerly Twitter, by billionaire Elon Musk.
“Accounts calling me fat, ‘Elonia’, ‘The First Lady’, saying I can’t jump, or pointing out my hair plugs and jawline gender affirming surgery, will be suspended without warning (sic),” text of the purported post reads.
The Threads post received more than 5,000 likes in five days. Similar versions accumulated thousands of additional likes on Threads and Instagram.
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Our rating: Altered
The image is a fabrication. There is no record of the post on Musk’s account.
Musk’s account shows no record of post
Musk’s X profile contains no record of that post. Were it real, it surely would have generated coverage from legitimate media outlets. However, no such news reports exist.
The image appears to be a doctored version of a legitimate post from Musk. The timestamp on the screenshotted post indicates it was shared at 5:40 a.m. Eastern time on Nov. 17. While he did share a post at that specific time, it had nothing to do with threats or mockery. Rather, in response to a post about low birth rates in other countries, Musk posted: "Instead of teaching fear of pregnancy, we should teach fear of childlessness."Additionally, in another sign it is a fabrication, the number of times the purported post was viewed – 12.7 million – is identical in multiple iterations of it. Were this an authentic post, it would have been captured and shared with varying numbers of views by the more than 200 million users who follow Musk.
President-elect Donald Trump quickly befriended Musk after the billionaire owner of the X platform endorsed him, raised funds for his campaign and danced and jumped on stage in support of him. Musk, picked by Trump to co-lead a new governmental efficiency office, has frequently been seen by his side after the election – leading to his “first buddy” nickname.
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USA TODAY previously debunked false claims that an image shows a post from Musk threatening punishment for users calling Trump supporters “weird” and that the billionaire banned actor Robert De Niro and musician Taylor Swift from the X platform.
USA TODAY reached out to Musk through the X platform’s press office and to several social media users who shared the image but did not immediately receive any responses.
PolitiFact and Lead Stories also debunked the claim.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post altered to claim Musk threatened to suspend X users | Fact check