Elon Musk has been condemned for sharing lies about the global response to the Sweden school massacre.
Rickard Andersson, a 35-year-old recluse, has been named in Swedish media as the suspected gunman who killed 10 people at Risbergska School in Örebro, before turning the gun on himself.
But as well-wishers paid their respects to the victims of the massacre online, X owner and member of the Trump administration Musk promoted a false claim that “no European politician” had mentioned the massacre.
Posted by right wing account Inevitable West, the tweet also falsely claimed the “legacy media, as always, is silent”, despite widespread coverage of the tragedy in newspapers and on television around the world.
The tweet has been viewed more than 1.2 million times and multiple replies boosted the misinformation by falsely agreeing that the attack had been “ignored”, and spreading various baseless conspiracies about why.
However, it wasn’t long before community notes, the feature allowing the public to fact-check tweets introduced by Musk after he bought the website in 2022, pulled up the tweet for correction.
“Many legacy media outlets from around the world have covered the Sweden shooting. Additionally, European politicians have mentioned it, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whose response is highlighted in the Le Monde article,” the community notes read.
Scores of replies to the tweet also pointed out how extensive the response was from the media and politicians, and a brief Google search about the shooting demonstrates widespread coverage from outlets from across the continent.
Stockholm University professor Christian Chistensen, from the US, was among those calling Musk out for his post.
“Musk amplifying lie that mainstream media aren’t covering mass killing in #Sweden — falsely implying it’s because killer was an immigrant and woke media won’t say that — is a classic b******t strategy from the far-right. Basically: “They won’t tell you the truth…but we will.”
Swedish journalist Gunilla von Hall added: “Elon Musk retweeting post that ”legacy media” in Europe has been silent about the shooting in Sweden. Pure lie. Has been massively reported in all major European news outlets.”
And senior journalist at BBC Verify Shayan Sardarizadeh shared screenshot evidence of the widespread reporting on Sweden’s worst ever shooting.
Among the political leaders who have condemned the violence and offered their condolences are Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, French president Emmanuel Macron, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen.
In Örebro, police continue to hunt for the motive behind the attack, with Andersson described by relatives as a “loner” who “doesn’t seem to like people”.
