Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk had a post removed from his own platform, X (formerly known as Twitter), due to a breach of community guidelines.
What Happened: On Wednesday, Musk responded to an NBC News article about Haiti’s ongoing humanitarian crisis and escalating violence by sharing a graphic video purportedly showing cannibalism in the country. However, this claim has not been fact-checked or verified.
Musk’s response to the article was a question, “What do you call this?” followed by a link to a graphic clip supposedly showing cannibalism in Haiti. The post was removed by X with a note stating it violated the platform’s rules.
The U.S. State Department reported that it had not received any credible reports regarding allegations of cannibalism in Haiti, urging individuals to seek fact-based verification before sharing sensational claims on social media. Despite the lack of credible evidence, such claims continue to proliferate on X.
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Despite the lack of credible evidence, the claims about cannibalism in Haiti have continued to spread on X. The videos being shared, some of which are years old, were most likely created by violent gangs as an intimidation tactic to scare locals, rather than evidence of widespread cannibalistic behavior, according to NBC News.
Why It Matters: Musk tied the rumors to fears over Haitian immigration to the U.S. and in response to a post from right-wing personality Ian Miles Cheong, Musk wrote, “If wanting to screen immigrants for potential homicidal tendencies and cannibalism makes me ‘right wing’, then I would gladly accept such a label! Failure to do so would put innocent Americans in mortal risk.”
Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist,” laid off hundreds of content moderation staff when he took over Twitter, renaming it X, in 2022. Shortly after Musk’s takeover, reports of the N-word being used on the platform surged by nearly 500%, according to data from the Network Contagion Research Institute.
This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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