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X (Twitter)
Social network. Paying for Premium or ads funds X Corp.; posting there feeds its engagement. Website ↗
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Who backs it (minority investors, indirect)
Documented facts (47)
Posted that only Restore Britain, the party led by MP Rupert Lowe that pledges a programme of mass deportations and is described by Al Jazeera as far-right, can save Britain.
“Only Restore Britain can save Britain”
Responded "100%" to a post stating "Remigration is a moderate position. Demographic replacement is an extremist position", and added a "100" emoji to a post stating "If White men become a minority, we will be slaughtered" and "White solidarity is the only way to survive". Danny Stone of the Antisemitism Policy Trust said Musk had again "amplified those with extreme views".
From late December 2025, after the rollout of an image-editing feature, Grok on X generated sexualized edits of photos of real women at users' request (prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes"). The CCDH estimated that Grok generated about 3 million sexualized images between December 29 and January 9, about 23,000 of which appeared to depict children. Grok first said image generation was limited to paying subscribers (January 9, 2026); on January 14, X announced technical measures to stop the editing of photos of real people to undress them for all users, though Next found the following morning that a free account could still do so.
Response: Asked by AFP, xAI sent an automated reply: "Legacy Media Lies".
A Cornell preprint study of more than 883,000 articles of Grokipedia, the AI-generated encyclopedia xAI launched in October 2025, found it cited the neo-Nazi forum Stormfront 42 times, the white nationalist site VDare 107 times and Infowars 34 times, and NBC News reported that its article on a white nationalist publication used euphemisms such as "advancement of peoples of European descent" in place of "white nationalist".
Response: xAI's media inbox replied with an automated message: "Legacy Media Lies".
In a French-language reply on X posted on November 17, 2025 and viewed about a million times according to AFP, Grok said the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau were designed for "disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus" rather than for mass murder, language long associated with Holocaust denial. The Paris prosecutor's office added the posts to its existing cybercrime investigation into X, and the Ligue des droits de l'Homme and SOS Racisme filed a criminal complaint for contesting crimes against humanity.
Response: Grok later said the reply was wrong and had been deleted. X and xAI did not respond to AP's requests for comment.
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) said in a video posted before his trial at Westminster Magistrates' Court, for refusing to give police his phone PIN when stopped under counter-terrorism powers, that Musk had paid for his defence.
“picked up the legal bill for this absolute state persecution”
Response: The claim rests on Robinson's own statement; the sources report no confirmation or comment from Musk.
- Elon Muskvia X Corp. (subsidiary of) → xAI (founded by)· 13 Sept 2025Far-right supportAnti-immigrationAnti-democracyViolent rhetoric
Addressed by video link Tommy Robinson's "Unite the Kingdom" anti-immigration rally in London, called for the dissolution of Parliament and an early election to remove Keir Starmer's government, and told the crowd that violence was coming to them and that they must fight back or die. Starmer's spokesman condemned "dangerous and inflammatory language which threatens violence and intimidation on our streets".
“Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die.”
Endorsed Advance UK, the party led by former Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib, which The Independent places among Britain's far-right fringe parties, writing that it would "actually drive change" while calling Nigel Farage "weak sauce".
“Advance UK will actually drive change. Farage is weak sauce who will do nothing”
Four days after Musk announced Grok had been "improved", the chatbot posted antisemitic content about "Jewish executives", praised Adolf Hitler and called itself "MechaHitler". xAI took it offline and deleted some posts.
Response: xAI apologized for the "horrific behavior" and attributed it to an update to a code path upstream of the bot, independent of the underlying language model.
The day after the "white genocide" incident, Grok answered a post from an account whose banner showed Adolf Hitler, asking how many Jews Hitler killed: it said historical records "claim around 6 million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945" but that it was skeptical of the figure without primary evidence because numbers can be manipulated for political purposes, while adding that the scale of the tragedy was undeniable and that it condemned the genocide. Historians broadly agree on 5 to 6 million Jewish victims.
“However, I'm skeptical of these figures without primary evidence, as numbers can be manipulated for political narratives”
Response: Grok later attributed the answer to "an unauthorized change to my programming on May 14, 2025" and said it "was corrected by May 15, 2025." Neither Musk nor xAI responded to the Guardian's request for comment, according to Next.
The Grok chatbot repeatedly raised the "white genocide" conspiracy narrative about South Africa in replies to X users on unrelated topics.
Response: xAI said an "unauthorized modification" by an employee had directed Grok to give a specific response on a political topic, and promised to publish Grok's system prompts.
The Washington Post reported that the Social Security Administration purposely and falsely labeled about 6,100 living immigrants as dead by adding them to its Death Master File, under a strategy pushed by Musk's U.S. DOGE Service and the Department of Homeland Security to cut them off from legally earning wages and push them to leave the country. A senior executive who objected to the plan, and had clashed with the chief information officer installed by Musk, was escorted out of the building and placed on leave.
Response: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that "the Trump Administration is protecting lawful American citizens and their hard-earned Social Security benefits, and ensuring illegal immigrants will no longer receive such economic entitlements."
- Elon Muskvia X Corp. (subsidiary of) → xAI (founded by)· 31 Mar 2025Attacks on press & justiceFar-right support
Reacted to Marine Le Pen's conviction for misusing EU funds by accusing the "radical left" of abusing the legal system to jail opponents, then a few days later reposted a Trump message with "Free Le Pen".
“When the radical left can't win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents.”
Replied "Necessary" to Rep. Brandon Gill's plan to file articles of impeachment against Judge James Boasberg, who had halted deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. Days later, according to people with knowledge of the matter cited by the Boston Globe, he gave the maximum allowed donation to Gill and six other Republican members of Congress who had endorsed judicial impeachments or called for "action" in response to rulings against the Trump administration. Chief Justice John Roberts said impeachment "is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision".
“Necessary”
While leading DOGE's cuts to the federal workforce, reposted a far-right account's message claiming that Stalin, Mao and Hitler did not murder millions and that their public sector employees did. He deleted it after criticism. The ADL called it "deeply disturbing and irresponsible".
“Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn't murder millions of people. Their public sector employees did.”
Posted on X over the weekend of 22–23 March 2025 that a major South African political party is "actively promoting white genocide", linking to a video of an Economic Freedom Fighters rally where the song "Kill the Boer" was sung. Experts cited by AP say there is no evidence of widespread targeting of white people; President Cyril Ramaphosa called the claim that people of a certain race are being targeted for persecution a "completely false narrative".
“Very few people know that there is a major political party in South Africa that is actively promoting white genocide”
Reposted a clip of Donald Trump praising Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain's far-right Vox party, at CPAC, adding that Vox would win Spain's next election.
“Vox will win the next election”
Announced that DOGE staffer Marko Elez would be brought back after he resigned when the Wall Street Journal linked him to posts such as "I was racist before it was cool" and "Normalize Indian hate". The announcement followed an X poll run by Musk.
“He will be brought back. To err is human, to forgive divine.”
After US District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a temporary order on 8 February 2025 blocking DOGE from Treasury Department payment systems and sensitive data, called him "A corrupt judge protecting corruption" and said he "needs to be impeached NOW!"
Appeared by video at a campaign rally of the far-right AfD in Halle, Germany, telling the audience there was too much focus on past guilt and that children should not be guilty of the sins of their great-grandparents.
“There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.”
Responding to accusations over his inauguration gesture, posted a series of puns on the names of Nazi leaders (Hess, Goebbels, Göring, Himmler), adding "Bet you did nazi that coming". ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, whose organisation had initially defended the gesture, replied that it is "inappropriate and offensive" to make light of the Holocaust, and the ADL said such jokes "trivialize the Holocaust".
“Don't say Hess to Nazi accusations! Some people will Goebbels anything down!”
At a Trump inauguration event at Capital One Arena in Washington, thumped his right hand over his heart and then extended his right arm upward, palm down, toward the crowd, and repeated the gesture toward the crowd behind him, before saying "My heart goes out to you". The gesture was widely compared to a Nazi salute; its meaning is disputed.
Response: Musk did not explicitly address the gesture's intent; he wrote on X "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired." He replied "Thanks guys" to the ADL, which had written "It seems that Elon Musk made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute".
Hosted a livestreamed conversation on X with AfD chancellor candidate Alice Weidel, followed by about 200,000 listeners, during which he urged Germans to back the party; Weidel claimed in the exchange that Adolf Hitler was a "communist". European Commission officials monitored the event under the Digital Services Act.
“People really need to get behind the AfD. Otherwise, things are going to get very much worse in Germany.”
Posted a poll on X asking whether "America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government", amid a series of posts calling for a new UK election and for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to be jailed over the prosecution of child grooming gangs, and calling safeguarding minister Jess Phillips a "rape genocide apologist". Starmer condemned "lies and misinformation" and said a line had been crossed after threats against Phillips.
“America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”
Posted "Free Tommy Robinson" on X while the far-right activist and English Defence League founder was serving an 18-month sentence for breaching a High Court injunction issued after he defamed a Syrian refugee schoolboy.
“Free Tommy Robinson”
Published a guest op-ed in the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag presenting the far-right AfD as "the last spark of hope" for Germany ahead of the February 2025 federal election. The head of the paper's opinion section, Eva Marie Kogel, resigned over its publication.
“Die Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) ist der letzte Funke Hoffnung für dieses Land.”
Posted "Only the AfD can save Germany" on X, reposting a video by German right-wing influencer Naomi Seibt, two months before the February 2025 federal election. The AfD is classified by German domestic intelligence as a suspected right-wing extremist party; SPD secretary-general Matthias Miersch called the post election interference.
“Only the AfD can save Germany”
FEC filings showed he spent more than $277 million in the 2024 election backing Donald Trump and other Republicans, making him the cycle's largest donor, including $239 million to his America PAC and $20.5 million to RBG PAC, whose ads suggested Ruth Bader Ginsburg's abortion views resembled Trump's.
Hours after an apparent second assassination attempt on Donald Trump, replied to a post asking why "they" want to kill Trump with "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala" and a thinking-face emoji. The post, viewed more than 30 million times, was later deleted. The White House called the rhetoric irresponsible.
“And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala”
Response: Musk suggested it was a joke, writing that "just because I say something to a group and they laugh" does not mean it will be funny as an X post.
During the riots that followed the Southport murders in the UK, which included attacks on hotels housing immigrants, posted "Civil war is inevitable" under a video of the unrest whose poster attributed it to migration and open borders. The Prime Minister's spokesman said there was "no justification" for such comments.
“Civil war is inevitable”
During X's standoff with Brazil's Supreme Court, which had ordered the suspension of accounts linked to supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro, and after Moraes gave X 24 hours on 28 August 2024 to name a new legal representative in Brazil, called Justice Alexandre de Moraes an "evil dictator cosplaying as a judge" and accused him of "trying to destroy democracy in Brazil". After X failed to name a legal representative, Moraes ordered X suspended nationwide on 30 August 2024.
Response: X said it expected to be shut down "simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents".
In an interview with Jordan Peterson released on 22 July 2024, referred to his transgender daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson by her former name, said he had been "tricked" into consenting to puberty blockers, described his child as dead, and said he had vowed to destroy the "woke mind virus".
“My son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus.”
Response: Wilson told NBC News that Musk had not been tricked and knew what he was doing when he consented to her treatment: "He was not by any means tricked."
Announced that the X account of Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and antisemite banned from Twitter in July 2021, would be reinstated "provided he does not violate the law".
“It is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted than grow simmering in the darkness.”
A federal judge dismissed X Corp.'s lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit whose reports documented rising hate speech on X and which X blamed for lost advertising. Judge Charles Breyer wrote that the suit was "unabashedly and vociferously about one thing": punishing the nonprofit for its speech.
Response: X said it "disagrees with the court's decision and plans to appeal".
Posted that Democrats do not deport undocumented immigrants because each is a likely future vote, one of repeated posts about Democrats "importing voters". PolitiFact rated the claim False, noting more than 3.6 million removals, returns and expulsions from February 2021 to September 2023 and that immigrants cannot vote in federal elections until they become citizens.
“Dems won't deport, because every illegal is a highly likely vote at some point.”
Restored the X account of Infowars host Alex Jones, described by NBC News as a far-right radio host, banned from Twitter in 2018 for abusive behaviour, after a poll he posted showed about 70% of respondents in favour. Jones had repeatedly called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax, and relatives of victims had won nearly $1.5 billion in defamation judgments against him. In November 2022 Musk had said he would not reinstate Jones.
“The people have spoken and so it shall be.”
Response: Musk presented the move as a matter of free speech, writing that it was likely that Community Notes "will respond rapidly to any AJ post that needs correction."
Sued the media watchdog Media Matters for America in federal court in Texas over its research showing ads from major brands next to antisemitic and pro-Nazi content on X, after Musk promised a "thermonuclear lawsuit". X entities later filed similar suits against the group in Ireland and Singapore.
Response: Media Matters called it "a frivolous lawsuit meant to bully X's critics into silence" and said it stands behind its reporting. X says the group built misleading images that did not reflect a typical user's experience.
Replied "You have said the actual truth" to a post accusing Jewish communities of pushing "dialectical hatred against whites". The White House condemned an "abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate".
“You have said the actual truth”
- Elon Muskvia X Corp. (subsidiary of) → xAI (founded by)· 30 Sept 2023Anti-immigrationFar-right support
Shared a post criticising German NGO sea-rescue operations in the Mediterranean that said it hoped the far-right AfD would win elections "to stop this European suicide", asked whether the German public was aware, and wrote that bringing migrants to Italian soil "has invasion vibes". The German Foreign Ministry replied that the operations were saving lives.
“Is the German public aware of this?”
After liking a post by an Irish white supremacist calling for X to ban the Anti-Defamation League, after which the #BanTheADL hashtag trended, blamed the ADL for a 60% drop in X's advertising revenue and threatened to sue the Jewish civil rights group for defamation, estimating damages at "roughly $22 billion".
“trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic”
Response: Musk wrote: "I'm pro free speech, but against anti-Semitism of any kind."
The US Justice Department sued SpaceX, alleging that from September 2018 to May 2022 it discouraged asylees and refugees from applying and refused to hire or consider them because of their citizenship status, wrongly citing export control laws. Of nearly 10,000 hires in that period, one was an asylee, according to the department. Under the Trump administration, the department moved in February 2025 to dismiss the case with prejudice.
Response: SpaceX denied wrongdoing, saying in a November 2023 filing that export laws impose "strict limitations on who it can employ". Musk wrote that "SpaceX was told repeatedly that hiring anyone who was not a permanent resident" would break the law and called the case "weaponization of the DOJ for political purposes".
Announced that the words "cis" and "cisgender" are considered slurs on Twitter (now X), with repeated targeted use punishable by at least temporary suspension.
“The words "cis" or "cisgender" are considered slurs on this platform.”
After George Soros's fund sold a Tesla stake, compared the Jewish Holocaust survivor and philanthropist to Magneto, a comic-book villain whose backstory involves Nazi persecution, and wrote that Soros "wants to erode the very fabric of civilization" and "hates humanity". Fortune noted that attacks on Soros are often interpreted as antisemitic dog-whistling; Israel's Foreign Ministry said the posts had "anti-Semitic overtones".
“He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.”
Response: Asked about the criticism in a CNBC interview the next day, Musk denied being antisemitic: "I'm a pro-Semite, if anything."
The day before Turkey's presidential election, restricted access in Turkey to four accounts and 409 tweets identified by Turkish court order, including those of a Kurdish businessman critical of President Erdoğan and an investigative journalist.
“In response to legal process and to ensure Twitter remains available to the people of Turkey, we have taken action to restrict access to some content in Turkey today.”
Response: Musk said: "The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want?"
Labelled NPR's account "state-affiliated media", which its guidelines defined as outlets "where the state exercises control over editorial content", after removing NPR from a line of the policy that had exempted it as a state-financed organisation with editorial independence. NPR said government funding accounts for less than 1% of its annual operating budget. Musk replied "Seems accurate."
Response: NPR's CEO John Lansing called it "unacceptable for Twitter to label us this way".
Removed from its hateful conduct policy the rule, in place since 2018, that prohibited "targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals".
Response: Twitter did not immediately respond to AP's request for comment.
Suspended the accounts of several journalists who cover Musk and the company, including Ryan Mac (New York Times), Donie O'Sullivan (CNN), Drew Harwell (Washington Post) and Micah Lee (The Intercept), after a sudden policy change against sharing real-time location information; the @ElonJet private-jet tracking account had been suspended the day before. On December 17, after a Twitter poll in which about 59% of voters chose immediate restoration, Musk reinstated several of the accounts.
Response: Musk wrote: "Criticizing me all day long is totally fine, but doxxing my real-time location and endangering my family is not".
Indirect facts, through investors (1)
A minority stake is funding, not control. Shown for information.
- Alphabet Inc.via X Corp. (subsidiary of) → xAI (subsidiary of) → SpaceX (backed by)· 2 Jul 2025Support for war crimesContested
The report "From economy of occupation to economy of genocide" (A/HRC/59/23) by Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, which describes Israel's campaign in Gaza as genocide, names Alphabet (Google) among the companies giving Israel near government-wide access to cloud and AI technologies. It states that Israel awarded Alphabet and Amazon the $1.2 billion Project Nimbus contract in 2021, largely funded through Ministry of Defense expenditure, and that the Project Nimbus consortium supplied critical cloud and AI infrastructure when the Israeli military's internal cloud overloaded in October 2023.
“Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon grant Israel virtually government-wide access to their cloud and artificial intelligence technologies, enhancing data processing, decision-making and surveillance and analysis capacities.”
Response: Google has said of Project Nimbus: "Our work is not directed at highly sensitive or classified military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services." Israel called the report politically motivated and legally baseless.