Elon Musk drew more attention to his online activities on Monday by sharing the Pizzagate conspiracy on his X platform.
A user on X tried to connect the owner of the “Pizzagate restaurant” with the owner of Media Matters, a left-leaning media watchdog that has accused X and Mr. Musk of promoting antisemitic rumors.
Mr. Musk brought the post to his 160 million followers and added “weird.”
Pizzagate is a conspiracy theory that emerged on 4chan and Reddit before the 2016 presidential election, falsely claiming that a D.C.-area pizza restaurant was operating a child sex trafficking operation from its basement. The unfounded theory implicated Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats. The Pizzagate saga came to a halt after the election when Edgar Maddison Welch fired an assault rifle into the restaurant.
Pizzagate is the most recent conspiracy theory that has caught Mr. Musk’s attention. Last week, he sparked criticism from advertisers, the media, and the White House after agreeing with a post that accused Jewish communities of driving the influx of immigration. Mr. Musk has also promoted rumors related to the Russia-Ukraine war, the attack on Paul Pelosi, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response, several high-profile advertisers, including Disney and Paramount, have suspended their ads on X.
Mr. Musk has denied he’s antisemitic, saying that “nothing could be further from the truth.”
