If there’s one word to sum up Elon Musk’s recent deposition, it’s embarrassing. The billionaire and owner of X, who has been trying to attract creators on his social media platform this year, faced the court on March 27 for two hours as part of a lawsuit filed in October 2023.
The suit alleges that Musk used his enormous social media influence to pedal a conspiracy theory about Ben Brody, a 22-year-old Jewish man. The false claims speculated Brody was in a fight between the Proud Boys and the neo-Nazi group Rose City Nationalists.
Purportedly, Musk repeatedly amplified the conspiracy theory that Brody was a member of the FBI posing as a neo-Nazi as part of a “false flag situation.” These allegations, Brody claims, forced him and his family to flee their home. He is suing the Tesla mogul for $1 million in damages.
Things went from bad to worse for Musk during the deposition. Musk’s lawyer, Alex Spiro, filed numerous motions for it to remain confidential. But a judge struck each one down, and the deposition went public on April 8.
The deposition included various admissions, like that Musk pretended to be his infant son online on a burner account. Musk also conceded that he has probably “done more to financially impair” than help X (which might just be the understatement of the year). Musk also said he relies on X’s Community Notes for fact-checking.
But most shocking of all is when Musk claimed the online pile-on he initiated had no impact on Brody’s life.
“People are attacked all the time in the media, online media, social media. But it is rare that that actually has a meaningful negative impact on their life,” Musk said.
Anyone who has ever been the internet’s main character for a day knows this isn’t true. But what it does show is a startling lack of insight from someone who is the leaders of one of the biggest social media sites in the world.
So yeah, we aren’t really shocked that his lawyer tried to keep this quiet.
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