Elon Musk has deleted a post on his social media platform X in which he said “no one is even trying to kill President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris,” following an alleged assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump while he was playing golf.
Musk, who has nearly 200 million followers on the social media site he bought for $44 billion in 2022, has increasingly embraced power conservative ideologies in recent years and supported Trump for president.
While he has deleted posts in the past, Musk has also maintained and even doubled down on other such inflammatory comments. Last week, he joked about impregnating Taylor Swift after the singer posted a recommendation for Harris.
On Monday morning, after deleting the post about Trump’s alleged assassination, the 53-year-old billionaire wrote on the platform: “Well one lesson I’ve learned is that just because I say something to a group and they laugh, doesn’t necessarily make it hilarious as a post on X.”
The original post was a response to DogeDesigner, one of the 700 accounts Musk follows, who asked, “Why do they want to kill Donald Trump?”
Musk’s response was quickly condemned by many X users, and “DeportElonMusk” began trending on X on Monday morning.
“Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or ridiculed,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in response to Musk’s message. “This rhetoric is irresponsible.”
Tesla CEO previously posted conspiracy theories and had run-ins with world leaders and politicians. X is currently banned in Brazil amid a dispute between Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court judge on freedom of expression, far-right statements and disinformation.
In the past, he has also been criticized for posts that critics say incite violence.
Last month, for example, the British government called on Musk to act responsibly after he used X to post a barrage of messages that officials said could inflame emotions. violent unrest in the country.
Musk said when he bought the platform then known as Twitter that protecting free speech — not money — was his motivation because, as he put it, “having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important for the future of civilization.”
Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute, noted that Musk has long sought to “push the boundaries of free speech, in part by making impulsive, unfiltered comments on a range of political topics.”
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Associated Press editor Chris Megerian contributed to this story from Washington.