Topline
Twitter owner Elon Musk has publicly expressed doubt in Twitter threads with fellow social media users this week about the widely reported far-right connections of a man accused of killing eight people at a Texas outlet mall over the weekend—in the billionaire’s latest promotion of an unfounded conspiracy theory
This illustration photo displays Elon Musks Twitter account with a Twitter logo in the background.
Key Facts
After some social media users questioned why the shooter was using a Russian social media channel—an account discovered by and reported on by news outlets Monday—Musk replied: “this gets weirder by the minute.”
In a series of other replies to tweets doubting the shooter’s hard-right connections on Tuesday, Musk described the details emerging about the shooter’s background as “odd” and later called the shooting a “psyop,” a term often used by conspiracy theorists to insinuate the government’s involvement.
Musk also responded “very strange” after another Twitter account doubted the authenticity of shooter Mauricio Garcia’s online profile—verified by investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat—describing the researcher as a “CIA operative.”
Contra
Musk hedged that the far-right connections of the shooter might be true in a tweet Tuesday, but added that “such an incongruent set of claims deserves extreme scrutiny.”
Key Background
Authorities said Garcia, 33, killed eight people and injured several others at a Dallas-area outlet mall Saturday afternoon, before police shot and killed Garcia on the scene. Since the shooting, information about Garcia’s beliefs and potential motives for the attack have emerged. The gunman was reportedly wearing a patch on his chest with the letters “RWDS,” an acronym in online neo-Nazi circles for “Right Wing Death Squad,” which has become increasingly common in recent years and is used by far-right groups like the Proud Boys. FBI documents obtained by Rolling Stone show Garcia expressing white supremacist and neo-Nazi views on his social media accounts. Garcia also appeared to have an account on OK.RU, a Russian social networking platform, the New York Times and NBC News reported. Since September, Garcia used the platform to post antisemitic, misogynistic and racists messages, the news outlets reported. The account also had images of the Dallas-area mall where the shooting occurred.
Tangent
This isn’t the first time Musk has engaged with misinformation. Last year, after the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was attacked at the couple’s California home, Musk tweeted and then deleted a conspiracy theory that Pelosi’s husband previously met his attacker at a gay bar. Musk later apologized for the tweet.
Further Reading
What To Know About ‘Right Wing Death Squad’—Phrase Linked To Texas Shooter, Proud Boys (Forbes)
What We Know About Mauricio Garcia, Suspected Texas Mall Shooter Accused Of Killing 8 (Forbes)
Musk Shares Misleading Claims About Mark Zuckerberg’s Influence Over 2020 Election—Again (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/05/09/musk-fuels-unfounded-texas-shooter-conspiracy-theories-doubting-shooters-far-right-connections/