Claim: In an X post, Elon Musk said, “Democracy is under attack in Pakistan.”
Fact: The X post was made by @ElonMuskVines, a parody account pretending to be the social media platform’s owner. The user has been consistently posting about Pakistan and Imran Khan, which the real Elon Musk has never done.
On 23 April 2024, multiple users on Facebook shared a screenshot of an X post, claiming it was written by the real Musk. Some of these — such as here, here, and here — were accompanied by captions like:
- “*ایلون مسک نے پاکستان میں جمہوریت کے دفن ہونے کا اعلان کر دیا*✍️💯 جرنیلوں اور ان کے چمچوں کڑچھوں کے منہ پر زبردست پھٹکار ، ہر طرف سے منہ کالا ہونے کی نوید ، شاباش لگے رہو آپ کے پاس وقت بہت کم ہے🖐️🖐️🖐️
[*Elon Musk announced the death of democracy in Pakistan* ✍️💯 Great curse in the faces of the generals and their propagandists, good news of embarrassment from all sides, great, keep up the good work, you have very little time 🖐️🖐️ 🖐️]”
- “پاکستان میں۔جمہوریت ختم ✌✌ ایلن مسک۔کا بیان جاری
[Democracy has ended in Pakistan, Elon Musk issues statement]”
- “ھاھاھاھاھا کپمنی کا بس نہیں چل رھا وارنہ اس کو بھی اٹھوا لیتے اور 9 مئ کا پرچہ کروا دیتے پر یہ کمپنی کی اوقات سے باہر ھے
[Hahahahaha, the ‘company’ can all but have him [Elon Musk] forcibly disappeared and booked in the 9 May case; however, this is out of the jurisdiction of the ‘company’.]”
On 23 April 2024, an X (formerly Twitter) account named ‘Elon Musk 🆇 ᵒᵖⁱⁿⁱᵒⁿ’ wrote (archive), “Democracy is under attack in Pakistan.” The user has the same profile photo as Elon Musk, the chief executive officer (CEO) of X Corp., which replaced Twitter, Inc.
A billionaire investor and business magnate, Musk has founded and co-founded numerous companies working in the fields of spacecraft engineering, automotives, infrastructure and equipment, artificial intelligence (AI), and neurotechnology, such as SpaceX, Tesla, Inc., The Boring Company, xAI and OpenAI, and Neuralink, respectively.
It is important to note that while the account’s name states ‘Elon Musk 🆇 ᵒᵖⁱⁿⁱᵒⁿ’, its bio states that it is a “commentary/parody account” of Musk. Multiple users appear to have been duped into believing that the X CEO has been publishing pro-Pakistan and pro-Imran Khan content on his original X account.
The Imran Khan fiasco
Former prime minister and founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, was first arrested (archive) on 9 May 2023 on the orders of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over charges of corruption in the Al-Qadir Trust case (archive). His detention triggered violent, country-wide protests and he was released (archive) a few days later after the Supreme Court of Pakistan intervened.
Khan was arrested (archive) and imprisoned for a second time on 5 August 2023, after a court ruled his “dishonesty [was] established beyond doubt” in the Toshakhana case. He has been incarcerated since then.
In January 2024, just a month ahead of the 2024 general elections in Pakistan, he was sentenced for a total of 31 years over charges of corruption, leaking state secrets, and an un-Islamic marriage, according to these reports (archived here and here).
Yet the former PM declared (archive) victory in a speech generated by artificial intelligence (AI), with 93 of the 264 seats secured by the independent candidates backed by the PTI. The party of his main opponent, PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif, got 75 seats, with the former premier, too, claiming that he won.
The National Assembly of Pakistan convened (archive) its maiden session on 29 February 2024, despite the PTI’s claim that the 2024 general elections were rigged. On 4 March, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif was elected (archive) the country’s prime minister after beating PTI-backed candidate, Omar Ayub Khan.
Most recently, Khan was seen for the first time (archive) since his incarceration in an apparently leaked photo from the 16 May 2024 Supreme Court proceedings that allowed him an appearance via video link.
A day prior to the court proceedings, the PTI leader was granted (archive) bail in a corruption case. Earlier, the sentences handed down to him in two of the four cases he was convicted in were also suspended; one of them (archive) was the Toshakhana case. However, Khan would not be released from jail, his lawyer said (archive).
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check observed that the account’s name and handle are ‘Elon Musk 🆇 ᵒᵖⁱⁿⁱᵒⁿ’ and @ElonMuskVines, respectively. Its bio states:
“Founder, Chairman, CEO & CTO of SpaceX; CEO & Former Chairman of Tesla, commentary/parody account of Owner, Executive Chairman, and CTO of @X #ElonMusk🆇 #Tesla”
@ElonMuskVines, which has mentioned their location as the USA, joined X in July 2022 and has over 22,200 followers. It does not appear to be verified.
On the other hand, the real Elon Musk has an “affiliated account”, which, according to X, “indicates that an account is connected to an organisation on X” and is identified using the “affiliation badge” next to the user’s name. In Musk’s case, he has the profile picture of X — which has a gold checkmark and a square profile picture — beside his name.
Furthermore, Soch Fact Check looked up the number of times @ElonMuskVines had mentioned Pakistan or Imran Khan, as of writing time. The account has published 19 posts containing the word “Pakistan” and two including “Imran Khan” sans “Pakistan” that are polls about world leaders. It has also posted the same text — “Democracy is under attack in Pakistan” — five times since April 2024 here, here, here, here, and here.
The parody posts by @ElonMuskVines have garnered tens of thousands of views.
We also searched Musk’s X account for any posts about Imran Khan or Pakistan but did not find any.
Therefore, Soch Fact Check concludes that multiple posts on Facebook falsely claim that the real Elon Musk wrote “Democracy is under attack in Pakistan” in a post on X. The X post in the screenshots was published by an account impersonating Elon Musk, not by the original X account of Musk himself.
Virality
The five X posts by @ElonMuskVines stating “Democracy is under attack in Pakistan” have been viewed more than 74,200, 6,000, 5,700, 20,400, and 646,600 times, respectively, as of writing time — or 670,000 times collectively.
The post by the parody account was shared as real here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook as text and here, here, here, here, and here with the screenshot of the viral X post.
Another Facebook post indicated that the text and screenshot of the X post were being forwarded in WhatsApp groups.
X user @Bisha_friend also quoted the original post by @ElonMuskVines here and here, assuming it was written by the real Musk.
Conclusion: Elon Musk did not write “Democracy is under attack in Pakistan” in an X post. @ElonMuskVines is a parody account, impersonating the social media platform’s owner. The user has been consistently tweeting about Pakistan and Imran Khan, something that the real Elon Musk has never done.
Background image in cover photo: @elonmusk
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