Fact Check: Users Shared Fake Musk Post Claiming He Said, 'Anyone Caught Promoting Propaganda Will Be Suspended from X'

Claim:

An image shows Elon Musk posted on X, "Anyone caught promoting propaganda will be suspended from X."

Rating:

Context:

Musk never posted these words. Users shared a fake screenshot. We uncovered no evidence suggesting Musk posted and then deleted the remark, or that he expressed the same thought elsewhere.

Early September 2024 brought a new rumor from the world of billionaire X owner Elon Musk, with some online users claiming he once posted on his owned social media platform, "Anyone caught promoting propaganda will be suspended from X."

For example, one X user posted a purported screenshot of the quote in reference to Musk's promotion of an unfounded rumor claiming Haitian immigrants had killed and eaten pet cats and park ducks in Springfield, Ohio. That user's post later turned up embedded on other websites, including Infowars.com, Reddit and even soccer forums.

Another person posted, "I guess he should suspend himself then. He's a primary propaganda distributor." Several other users shared the rumor as well, including on Facebook, Reddit, Threads, Tumblr and X.

However, Musk never posted the quote. We found no credible reporting mentioning the appearance of such an announcement. Further, as one user pointed out, no replies existed accusing Musk of posting and then deleting the words at around the time a user created the first-ever post with the exact words "anyone caught promoting propaganda" — on Sept. 7, 2024. That post was a response to another user who may have first posted the fake post screenshot just minutes earlier.

It's possible the user who created the fake Musk quote was inspired by news coverage at the time of a foreign propaganda effort centered on social media. On Sept. 5, the U.S. Justice Department alleged a Tennessee-based content creation company named Tenet Media paid some right-wing influencers with large followings on X to promote Russian propaganda.

While it's possible Musk once posted a remark with similar phrasing, we found no record of statements by him using those exact words. We will update this story in the future if we uncover any such similar posts or quotes.

5 Times Elon Musk Actually Did Threaten Suspension for Policy Violations

While Musk never posted the message discussed above, we did note five other times he posted public statements threatening suspensions for violations of specific platform policies.

For example, in July 2020 — prior to his purchase of Twitter — Musk posted, "Accounts that unequivocally advocate harassment should be suspended with warning, then shut down if repeated."

In November 2022, he posted, "Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying 'parody' will be permanently suspended."

One month later, Musk shared his thoughts about the act of doxxing, saying, "Any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, as it is a physical safety violation. This includes posting links to sites with real-time location info. Posting locations someone traveled to on a slightly delayed basis isn't a safety problem, so is ok."

In June 2023, he posted of attempts to "game" the platform's verification system, "Accounts that try to game our verification system with non-sequitur self-promotion or advertise in a misleading way will be suspended."

Then, in April 2024, he noted of engagement farming, "Any accounts doing engagement farming will be suspended and traced to source."

Sources:

Evon, Dan. "Snopes Tips: A Guide To Performing Reverse Image Searches." Snopes, 22 Mar. 2022, https://www.snopes.com/articles/400681/how-to-perform-reverse-image-searches/.

Kasprak, Alex. "No Evidence Haitian Immigrants Are Eating Ducks, Geese or Pets in Springfield, Ohio." Snopes, 10 Sept. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/cats-ducks-haitians-springfield/.

Suderman, Alan, and Ali Swenson. "Right-Wing Influencers Were Duped to Work for Covert Russian Operation, US Says." The Associated Press, 5 Sept. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/russian-interference-presidential-election-influencers-trump-999435273dd39edf7468c6aa34fad5dd.