Elon Musk Claims ‘State Actors’ Are Manipulating Community Notes After His Post Gets Fact-Checked
X owner Elon Musk sneered at those who provided context to his demand that President Joe Biden answer for the detainment of an American pro-Russian propagandist.
In the midst of Musk’s decision to restore Alex Jones’s account after his friendly chit-chat with Tucker Carlson, Musk got on the social media platform once known as Twitter to talk about the plight of Chilean-American citizen Gonzalo Lira. This followed Carlson posting an interview he had with Lira’s father in which the former Fox News host claimed that Lira has been “tortured in a Ukrainian prison since July, for the crime of criticizing Zelensky. Biden officials approve of this, because they’d like to apply the same standard here.”
Ep. 47 Gonzalo Lira is an American citizen who’s been tortured in a Ukrainian prison since July, for the crime of criticizing Zelensky. Biden officials approve of this, because they’d like to apply the same standard here. The media agree. Here’s a statement from Gonzalo Lira’s… pic.twitter.com/4H2otHhYHi
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 9, 2023
Carlson’s description is contradicted by The Daily Beast’s Russian media analyst Julia Davis — who reported on Lira in the past and covered how he’s a former online dating coach who was living in Kharkiv and has been repeatedly arrested and charged for pushing Russian propaganda. The report describes how Lira produced content that celebrated Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, slimed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s regime, and he also “charted his efforts to follow American reporters covering the conflict in Ukraine, describing them as ‘system pig journalists’ and revealing their whereabouts in specific hotels.”
As reports indicate that Lira was arrested again while trying to cross into Hungary and seek political asylum, Musk demanded that Biden and Zelensky provide updates on Lira’s status. This led to Musk’s posts getting slapped with community notes addressing the charges against Lira and his conduct throughout the war.
What is the status of this American journalist @JoeBiden? https://t.co/KBPCxU0Roa
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
President @ZelenskyyUa, please educate the American people about this matter
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023
But instead of addressing the substance of the fact check, Musk claimed, “This note is being gamed by state actors.”
Interesting. This Note is being gamed by state actors. Will be helpful in figuring who they are.
Thanks for jumping in the honey pot, guys lmao!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
An hour later, he had this to say about the community note system:
No system is perfect. Perfection would be an absurd and foolish standard.
What matters is how often a system is wrong and how quickly it improves.
State actors have a lot of resources, so obviously require more effort to resist.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
