Elon Musk once again shared misinformation on the social media platform that he owns, and now users are calling him out for it.
On Monday, Musk posted a video of what was claimed to be people stealing ballot boxes in Venezuela as their presidential election was underway. Musk shared the post with the comment “This is messed up.” The source who originally posted the video took down their post on Twitter/X that contained the video in question, however the original video still exists:
đš| URGENTE: En Punta CardĂłn, estado FalcĂłn, Venezuela reportan que milicianos chavistas enmascarados allanaron una mesa de votaciĂłn local y llevaron por la fuerza las urnas con los votos a un lugar desconocido đ»đȘ. Maduro estĂĄ haciendo un FRAUDE ELECTORAL MASIVO. #VenezuelaLibre pic.twitter.com/dIQZ9M9uLS
â Eduardo Menoni (@eduardomenoni) July 29, 2024
The translated caption read: “URGENT: In Punta CardĂłn, FalcĂłn state, Venezuela, they report that masked Chavista militiamen raided a local voting station and forcibly took the ballot boxes with the votes to an unknown location. Maduro is committing MASSIVE ELECTORAL FRAUD.”
This is messed up https://t.co/7AyK6LCFGc
â Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2024
A community note was posted to correct Musk, who shared the video after Venezuela’s presidential election on Sunday. Both authoritarian President NicolĂĄs Maduro and his opponent Edmundo GonzĂĄlez declared victory, and according to The Washington Post:
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which Maduro controls, claimed early Monday that he won 51 percent of the vote to opposition candidate Edmundo GonzĂĄlez’s 44 percent, despite independent exit polling and partial results that suggested GonzĂĄlez captured twice as many votes as Maduro. On Monday afternoon, Elvis Amoroso, the president of Venezuela’s electoral council, officially declared Maduro president for another six-year term. The official declaration suggests that a possible recount would not change the outcome announced Sunday.
But while Musk declared this supposed “theft” of ballot boxes “messed up,” many were quick to correct him that anyone who speaks Spanish could have told him that the boxes in question were air conditioners.
This is as bad as your ZIONIST PROPAGANDA.
Those arenât âballot boxes,â theyâre air conditioning units. Holy shit.
â Jackson Hinkle đșđž (@jacksonhinklle) July 29, 2024
These are air conditioners @elonmusk. Visegrad regularly posts fake news.
â Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) July 29, 2024
In an attempt at pushing propaganda, Elon pushes a false narrative that the thieves in the video are stealing ballot boxes, when it’s easy to see they’re stealing air conditioning units for windows.
â Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) July 29, 2024
Musk has shared misinformation about election interference on several occasions, despite it being against Twitter/X’s rules and guidelines.