Elon Musk shared a tweet on Sunday claiming there was a “media blackout” surrounding the recent murder of a college student in Georgia. But the murder, allegedly committed illegally in the United States by a 26-year-old Venezuelan citizen, has been widely reported by nearly every media outlet in the country.
“The primary way legacy media lies is by controlling the narrative,” Musk wrote on Twitter. sunday night.
Musk’s tweet shared an article published on Sunday by the pseudonymous right-wing influencer Zerohedge titled “Media Blackout on Illegal Immigrant Murdering Georgia Student.”
What evidence does Zerohedge provide that the mainstream media ignored the murder?No, if you really Read article. The author simply claims that this is true:
While the tragedy of Riley’s murder would be perfect for a true crime mystery drama that Netflix immediately capitalized on, her death has received little mainstream media attention.
The article goes on to falsely insist that “media outlets have remained silent on Laken Riley’s murder” despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. All anyone has to do is type the name of the victim or suspect, Jose Antonio Ibarra, into Google News and they will see dozens of articles about the murder.
A small sample of the mainstream news outlets that covered the story is as follows:
But, again, you don’t need to take our word for it. Just go to news.google.com and check it out for yourself. If there is a “media blackout”, whatever that means, this is a very poor execution.
Musk has seems fascinated Crime and illegal immigration are two topics the billionaire has been active on his social media platform X in recent months. In his view, these issues prove that Joe Biden should not be re-elected as president in the upcoming 2024 election.
As the owner of a social media company, Musk is clearly motivated to insist that his platform is the place to find “real stories.”and other large platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Threads abandon news content, the owner of While there is some truth to the fact that social media has given previously marginalized communities and small publishers a more prominent voice, it is intellectually dishonest to claim that X is where most news breaks first.
“Newspapers basically just report what they read yesterday X lmao,” Musk tweeted on September 29, 2023, expressing a thought he repeated repeatedly.
Nine out of 10 people will complain “Why isn’t the media covering this?” on social media, referring to stories they learned about through mainstream media. The tragic murder of Laken Riley is no different, as we can tell by how many news sites covered the story.
It’s great to have social media as an alternative way for smaller voices to be amplified when necessary. But if you really think this particular murder isn’t getting enough coverage, you might want to learn how to use Google better.
Musk did not respond to an email with questions sent to X on Sunday evening. We will update this article if we receive a response.