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| - A rumor circulating online as an image in February 2025 claimed tech entrepreneur Elon Musk posted on X, "Spoiled crybabies across the country are protesting against America's golden age. Brats like them should go to prison." The text of the purported post referenced gatherings organized across the U.S. to protest the actions of President Donald Trump's second administration, including his giving Musk oversight of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Searches of social media platforms located users sharing the post image on Bluesky, Facebook, Threads and X.
However, no record existed of Musk posting he believed protesters were "spoiled crybabies" and "brats" who "should go to prison." The fake post displayed a count of over 1.1 million views. If the Musk post were authentic, someone would have shared a screenshot, archive link or other proof. No online users provided any such evidence.
While the above post was fake, a Google search of Musk's past posts displayed results showing him naming specific people or types of people he believed belong in prison, including, for example, people who threaten or encourage murder, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other British politicians.
The fake Musk post made the rounds online around the same time he genuinely posted that the staff of CBS News' "60 Minutes" show "deserve a long prison sentence." The post (archived) read, "'60 Minutes' are the biggest liars in the world! They engaged in deliberate deception to interfere with the last election. They deserve a long prison sentence." His post referenced a purported editing controversy involving a "60 Minutes" interview from October 2024 with 2024 Democratic Party presidential nominee and former Vice President Kamala Harris.
The supposed controversy primarily stemmed from the fact that, as part of a preview of a special edition of "60 Minutes," the CBS News TV show "Face the Nation" aired an answer to one of correspondent Bill Whitaker's questions that differed from the answer aired the following evening during the full "60 Minutes" broadcast.
In November 2024, Trump sued CBS for $10 billion, alleging the media company deceptively edited the "60 Minutes" interview to help Harris' election chances. He then doubled the amount to $20 billion in February 2025.
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