Views of Elon Musk

Elon Musk is the owner of multiple companies, the wealthiest individual in the world, and a US government employee. Having rejected the conservative label, Musk has described himself as a political moderate; his views have become more right-wing over time, and have been characterized as libertarian and far-right. As the owner of Twitter, he has suppressed critics, and after his involvement in European politics, his views have received criticism from some world leaders. Musk has also expressed his opinion on topics from science and technology to religion and philosophy.
Within the context of American politics, Musk voted for Democratic candidates from 2008 until 2020, before switching to Republican candidates in 2022, and supporting Donald Trump in 2024 who he previously feuded with. He has identified as a "free speech absolutist" and has expressed support for universal basic income, gun rights, a tax on carbon emissions, and H-1B visas. Musk has been a critic of wealth tax, short-selling, government subsidies and Wikipedia, and expressed concern about the perceived dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) and climate change. He has criticized public transportation and transit systems, rejected labor unions, and is a pronatalist. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Musk defied lockdowns, describing them as "fascist", supported the Canada convoy protest against vaccine mandates, and made contentious epidemiological claims.
Musk has promoted conspiracy theories and made controversial statements that have led to accusations of sexism, antisemitism, transphobia, disseminating misinformation and disinformation, and support of white pride. While describing himself as a "pro-Semite", his comments regarding George Soros and Jewish communities have led to condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League and the White House. An immigrant himself, Musk blames immigration policy for illegal immigration, has been described as anti-immigration, and has engaged in promoting misleading narratives regarding voter fraud.
Musk has been described as being closely associated with techno-libertarians, ideologically a libertarian authoritarian, and has more recently been described as far-right in regards to European politics. Having criticized and feuded with Donald Trump, Musk supported the President for the 2024 United States presidential election, as the largest financial contributor to his campaign. Soon after, by appointment of Trump, Musk was given "special government employee" status as a DOGE official. Describing himself as "a free speech absolutist", Musk has regularly criticized American and European immigration policies, and his views on transgender issues, women, and race, have been controversial. Musk advocates for the U.S. to withdraw from both NATO and the UN.
Musk supported Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016, Joe Biden in 2020, and Donald Trump in 2024. In 2014, Musk described himself politically as "half Democrat, half Republican" and "somewhere in the middle, socially liberal and fiscally conservative." By 2018, he stated that he was "not a conservative" and politically moderate". He stated that he had "voted overwhelmingly for Democrats, historically" but in 2022 began supporting Republicans, with his views becoming more right-wing.
In 2016, prompted by the emergence of artificial intelligence, Musk has voiced support for a universal basic income; he additionally backs direct democracy and has stated he thinks the government on Mars will be a direct democracy. He supports targeting an inclusive tax rate of 40%; prefers consumption taxes to income taxes; and supports the estate tax, as the "probability of progeny being equally excellent at capital allocation is not high." In an interview with The Washington Post, Musk stated he was a significant donor to Democrats and also gives heavily to Republicans. Musk further stated that political contributions are a requirement in order to have a voice in the United States government.
In 2019, Musk tweeted in support of the Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, agreeing that universal basic income was required. The following year, Musk voiced support for Kanye West's independent run for president. Musk at the time described the United States as "[inarguably] the greatest country that has ever existed on Earth", describing it as "the greatest force for good of any country that's ever been." Musk believes democracy would not exist any longer if not for the United States, saying that it prevented this disappearance on three occasions through its participation in World War I, World War II, and the Cold War, while believing the country is not perfect and has made many mistakes.
In 2021, in response to Texas Governor Greg Abbott saying that Musk supported Texas' "social policies", Musk said he believed government "should rarely impose its will upon the people". The following year, Musk said that he could "no longer support" the Democrats, saying that "they have become the party of division & hate" and would be voting Republican due to Biden's support for unions and his inability to "get a lot done".
In June 2022, Musk voted for Mayra Flores in a special election, stating it was the first time he ever voted Republican, while also considering Ron DeSantis in the 2024 United States presidential election. In November, Musk clarified he would support DeSantis if he chose to run.
In January 2024, Musk participated in a forum with Bill Ackman and Democratic presidential primary challenger, Representative Dean Phillips regarding his presidential bid. During the forum, after hearing about the various challenges the Democratic Party presented to Phillips's campaign, Musk denounced the process of removing candidates from ballots as being "fundamentally anti-democratic". In July 2024, Musk called Kamala Harris an "extinctionist" due to comments about young people being anxious about having kids due to climate change.
While Musk criticized Donald Trump prior to his first presidency in 2016, and the two feuded as late as 2022, in 2024 there flourished what was described by The Independent as a "rapid and intense bromance between two of the world's most powerful men." In February 2025, Musk publicly stated he loved Trump as "a straight man".
Before the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States in November 2016, Musk criticized Trump by saying by suggesting he was "not the right guy", nor had the "character that reflects wells". Following Trump's inauguration in January 2017, Musk accepted an invitation to participate in two councils advising the president, and also criticized Trump's travel ban, regarding "citizens from certain primarily Muslim countries". In June, a few months later, he resigned from both business advisory councils in protest of Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change, stating: "Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world".
In May 2020, amidst Musk's restarting of Tesla assembly plant production during the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump tweeted in support of Musk, which Musk publicly thanked him for. According to Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk, he reportedly did not vote in the 2020 presidential election since he believed that it was a waste of time to vote due to California being an uncontested state.
In July 2022, Trump referred to Musk as a "bullshit artist" and called Musk's contract with Twitter "rotten", Musk responded describing Trump as being too old for President, instead favouring DeSantis for the 2024 United States presidential election. Afterwards, Trump stated on Truth Social that Musk had come to the White House requesting help with subsidized projects and that had he been asked to beg, "he would have done it". Trump also said on Truth Social that "Now Elon should focus on getting himself out of the Twitter mess because he could owe $44 billion for something that's perhaps worthless. Also, lots of competition for electric cars!".
In July 2024, Musk endorsed Donald Trump shortly after the attempted assassination in Pennsylvania, and it was reported that he pledged the commitment to a pro-Trump super PAC on a monthly basis, making Musk the single largest individual donor to Trump's campaign.
In September 2024, following another attempted assassination of Trump, Musk received backlash after posting the now-deleted tweet: "And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala". The following month, at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Musk declared the presidential election crucial for preserving democracy, stating that Donald Trump was the only candidate capable of achieving this. Wearing a black "Make America Great Again" cap, he warned that if Trump lost, it might be the last election, marking his first appearance at a Trump event. Musk positioned Trump as a champion of free speech, and accused Democrats of threatening various rights, including the right to vote.
In December, 2024, The Washington Post reported that Musk had donated $277 million to Trump and allied Republicans, making him the single largest individual political donor in the 2024 election and the largest donor since at least 2010, not counting candidates who funded their own campaigns, according to data from OpenSecrets. The Post described Musk as being referred to by some Republicans as "the Soros of the right".
The concept of DOGE, a department for streamlining government efficiency, emerged in a discussion between Musk and Donald Trump, and in August 2024, Trump committed to giving Musk an advisory role, with Musk accepting the offer. Musk was described as having more of a "technology approach", according to Vivek Ramaswamy, who was originally intended co-chair the department alongside Musk. In November 2024, he suggested that the organization could help to cut the U.S. federal budget, consolidate the number of federal agencies, and eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The following month, he described the final stage of DOGE as "deleting itself". While his official role is not clear, he was given "special government employee" status, with the organization created by executive order in January 2025. Soon after, Musk was criticised for his treatment towards employees, prioritized secrecy within the organization, and accused others of violating privacy laws, stating "Don't mess with DOGE" on X.
Musk calls himself "a free speech absolutist", identifying his definition of free speech as "that which matches the law", while advocating that corporate censorship of speech should not go significantly beyond minimum legal requirements. He has attempted to silence some critics' speech, including journalists and non-profit organisations, and engaged in censorship on behalf of Twitter.
In April 2022, Musk made an offer to buy Twitter, believing that "free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy". Since Musk's acquisition of Twitter, the platform has increased its approval of censorship requests by governments. During the 2023 Turkish presidential election, Twitter limited access to content in Turkey, including critics of incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, political opponents, and journalists. Musk defended this move by stating that the alternative would have been to "throttle [Twitter] in its entirety", and said it was normal for Internet companies to do. Twitter has also censored tweets and blocked accounts that are critical of India's prime minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, with Musk stating that Twitter is left with no choice but to "obey local government", as a believer in upholding lawful censorship requests. Twitter has filed strategic lawsuits against public participation for some U.S. critics, and it is facing a speech-related case involving a critic in Germany. Musk has also called for several of his critics to be criminally prosecuted.
According to Musk, the alt-tech platform, Truth Social, exists because of censorship on Twitter, noting the application's rank in popularity above Twitter and TikTok in the Apple store. In May 2022, Musk called Twitter's decision to ban Trump "morally wrong", announcing he would reverse Trump's ban when after purchasing Twitter.
In November 2022, Musk tweeted that he was so committed to free speech that he would not ban @ElonJet, a Twitter account that tracked the publicly available real-time flight data of Musk's private plane. Musk reversed his position the following month, banning the account and several journalists who had reported on it, accused them of doxxing, and threatening legal action. He has also refused to block Russian state media on SpaceX's Starlink satellites in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In February 2025, Tesla fired a manager who had been openly critical of Musk, a move seen at odds with Musk's purported free speech views. In March 2025, Musk pressured Reddit CEO Steve Huffman to prevent subreddits from banning links to Twitter and ban subreddits critical of the Trump administration, leading to the r/WhitePeopleofTwitter subreddit being banned for 72 hours. In an interview, Musk said he would be working with the Trump administration to "go after" people "pushing the lies" about Tesla.
In the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting in 2022, Musk supported strict background checks on all gun purchases and limiting the sale of assault rifles to those living in "high risk" locations with issues such as "gang warfare" and to owners of gun ranges. Believing in a special permit and vigorous vetting, Musk has said that he firmly believes "that the right to bear arms is an important safeguard against potential tyranny of government. Historically, maintaining their power over the people is why those in power did not allow public ownership of guns".
Having previously been described as a "Silicon Valley libertarian", in late 2022, The Atlantic wrote that Musk was "a right-wing activist" who was aiding the far-right, and "appears deeply committed to the right’s culture war against progressivism in most forms", while Musk affirmed he was a centralist. The magazine described his activism as being "personally motivated", as opposed to ideologically motivated. A year later, the New Statesman described his libertarianism as being "infused with authoritarian tendencies". In July 2024, Bloomberg declared Musk was "going all in on right-wing politics" and embracing the conservative movement. In October, a CNN reporter described Musk as finding Trump's authoritarian leanings appealing, and a month later, The Spectator credited Musk with bringing "the techno-libertarian elite, a small but very wealthy group, into Trump’s largely blue-collar, industrial and conservative base", thus increasing the support base.
In early 2025, The Conversation analysed Musk's path towards far-right politics within the context of "the libertarian to alt-right pipeline" and the shift of the Libertarian Party to the right. The magazine stated that "he remains a limited-government libertarian", and that his online personality is "part of a deliberate alt-right populist strategy to stoke controversy", intended to disturb the left and claim persecution when criticized. Wired opined that Musk had become "the hero of America’s far-right movement", and had become paramount within far-right community discussions. Jacobin defined his politics as libertarian authoritarianism, based on his political activities combining "authoritarian nationalism with a distinctive postmodern, libertarian streak". The magazine attributed his transition into a "chief amplifier of global authoritarianism", based on his past criticisms of Black Lives Matter, diversity, equity and inclusion, and "wokeness", describing Musk as "the first truly global oligarch".
Al Jazeera reported that although Musk was supported by some for his salute, his public persona remains libertarian; described as passionately protesting against regulation, government waste, and "freeing the potential of the market and of individuals". Political scientist Jean-Yves Camus argued that Musk is not a Nazi, and alongside Trump, is "self-serving rather than ideological" who instead favours an autocracy, and The Guardian hypothesised that his "closeness with rightwing populist parties" may be of benefit to his businesses. The Nation warned that Musk has raised "the specter of massive corruption and authoritarianism to an immediate threat", after U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders described Trump and Musk's attempts to restructure the federal government as "the growth of oligarchy", and part of the shift towards authoritarianism.
Musk has regularly criticized American and European immigration policies. An immigrant himself, he is described as being "anti-immigration" and has distributed false information regarding immigration and voter fraud, promoted misleading narratives, and engaged in misinformation.
Since the inauguration of the Biden administration in 2021, Musk has expressed various disapprovals of its immigration policies, regularly criticizing illegal immigration and the crimes allegedly committed by them, and has promoted the theory that an increase in illegal immigration is the alleged goal of "importing voters". Musk clarified his opinion that votes are coming from counting unauthorized immigrants during the census, which shifts the proportion of seats in the House of Representatives toward states with large number of undocumented immigrants, with such states predominantly voting for Democrats. Analysis from Bloomberg described his posts on the topic as those that "primarily promote misleading narratives", and helps amplify Trump's policies on immigration. BBC Verify reported that Musk's engagement with misinformation on the subject was a "key theme" since endorsing Trump in July 2024, and The Washington Post likened the imported voters theory as being "adjacent rhetoric" to the "great replacement" conspiracy theory. That year, Musk reached over one thousands tweets and over 10 billion views on the topic of immigration and voter fraud, which became his most tweeted topic.
In September 2023, Musk livestreamed a visit to the Texas border with Mexico during an influx in migrant arrivals. Musk called for improving the immigration system to allow more "hard-working and honest" migrants, while also stopping illegal migrants who are breaking the law. That same month, Musk retweeted a video that showed a non-governmental organization working to assist migrants in the Mediterranean with the caption about Germany NGO ships "collecting illegal immigrants to be unloaded in Italy". Musk's retweet bore the caption "Is the German public aware of this?" to which the German Foreign Ministry responded "Yes. And it's called saving lives." Musk responded to the Foreign Ministry declaring that Germany had violated sovereignty with the remark "Has invasion vibes".
Musk has defended the use of H-1B visas to attract highly skilled workers to the U.S, having arrived in the U.S. through the work visa. In December 2024, during a period of online discussion on whether H-1B visas should be reformed, he said that Silicon Valley firms need foreign workers (via H-1B) because there aren't enough "super motivated" and "super talented engineers" in America. This was controversial and drew criticism from opponents of immigration who believe that importing foreign workers would negatively impact American workers, and the debate was dubbed the "MAGA Civil War". U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders criticised Musk's stance, viewing it as the importation of cheap labour that benefits billionaires.
After multiple United States federal judges ruled against the Trump administration's actions, Musk in February 2025 proposed "an immediate wave of judicial impeachments". Musk in March 2025 declared: "It’s like any federal judge can stop any action by the President of the United States. This is insane, and this has got to stop … at the federal level and at the state level".
Musk has been critical of trade unions. In December 2023, Musk commented that he disagreed with "the idea of unions", describing a "lords and peasants" scenario. In 2018, Musk tweeted "Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union ... But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?" while the United Auto Workers (UAW) union was campaigning at Tesla, in the Fremont Factory in California.
In February 2023, following racist comments from cartoonist Scott Adams in which he described Black people as a hate group and encouraged racial segregation, Musk opined that the media was being racist against Whites and Asians.
In May 2023, Musk attacked George Soros on Twitter after the investor sold a small stake in Tesla, comparing Soros to the Jewish supervillain Magneto. In his defence, Musk stated he believes Soros wanted to "erode the very fabric of civilization". Musk's comment was criticized as being antisemitic by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), noting that Soros had long been the target of conspiracy theories, and by a member of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. He was also defended by a minister of Israeli's Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, who deemed the post as not being antisemitic. Musk later denied being antisemitic and described himself as a "pro-Semite".
In August 2023, Musk criticized the "Kill the Boer" song which was sung by Julius Malema during a rally for the far-left South African political party Economic Freedom Fighters, asserting that the song advocated the genocide of white people, which was refuted by Malema. A month later, Musk assured Benjamin Netanyahu that he was against antisemitism. Musk discussed the issues online with a panel of right-leaning Jewish leaders including former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin, attorney Alan Dershowitz, who represented Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial, as well as several Rabbis including Shmuley Boteach, where Musk denied allegations of antisemitism and cited the suspension of Kanye West as an example of enforcement on his platform. The group also criticized the ADL's criticism of Musk.
In November 2023, Musk posted a response in which he expressed his agreement with an antisemitic tweet in which Jews were described as promoting "hatred against whites", writing "You have said the actual truth." Following this, Musk said it was "super messed-up" that white people are not "allowed to be proud of their race." He was condemned by the White House for his post, described as a "hideous lie". Musk later acknowledged the tweet as a mistake, saying "I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and to those who are antisemitic and for that I am quite sorry" and described his tweet as very foolish.
Musk stated that he doesn't believe that "all Jewish communities" promote dialectical hatred towards white people and that he was "deeply offended" by the ADL, while denouncing what he described as "anti-white racism or anti-Asian racism or racism". He also tweeted that his criticism of Jews applies to more groups than just the ADL. At the DealBook Summit, journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin questioned Musk about the withdrawal of advertisers from X following his recent posts, and Musk responded denouncing advertisers of blackmail and stated "Go fuck yourself".
In August 2024, Musk ignited a controversy after he shared an allegedly Islamophobic meme. He subsequently feuded with First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf, who described him as "one of the most dangerous men on the planet" and a "race baiter" who should be held to account. Musk responded that Yousaf is a racist "scumbag" who "loathes white people".
In January 2025, at a campaign event which was staged by the German far-right political party Alternative for Germany, Elon stated that "There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that". That same week, Musk was criticized for a controversial gesture which he made during Trump's inauguration, his comments about past guilt were condemned by the chairman of Israel's official memorial to Holocaust victims.
Musk's views on transgender issues have provoked controversy, leading to being characterized as transphobic.
In July 2020, Musk made headlines when he tweeted "Pronouns suck." The tweet was interpreted by The Independent as a slight to preferred gender pronouns, and was criticized by many, including LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign and Musk's then partner Grimes. In a later tweet, Musk stated he supported "trans", but that pronouns are "an esthetic nightmare". In December 2022, Musk again mocked preferred gender pronouns in a tweet that read "My Pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci." The Atlantic opined that this tweet revealed Musk as a far-right activist. That same year, Musk's daughter, Vivian Wilson, transitioned and changed her name, no longer wishing to be associated with her father. According to Walter Isaacson's biography of Musk, this "partially triggered" his transformation into right-wing politics.
Following Musk's takeover of Twitter in October 2022, the platform has seen an increase in hate speech toward the LGBT community, for which he has received criticism. In April 2023, Twitter quietly removed a policy prohibiting targeted deadnaming and misgendering of transgender users. In June 2023, Musk deemed the word cisgender a slur, stating that it violated Twitter's conduct policy. That same month, What Is a Woman?, a controversial documentary about transgender issues that was initially flagged by Twitter as hate speech, went viral after Musk personally promoted it and pinned it to his profile. Musk has also expressed opposition to gender-affirming care for minors and has stated he will be "actively lobbying to criminalize" such care.
In January 2024, he further declared that cisgender is a "heterophobic" word. PinkNews argued that it does not refer to heterosexual people. In July 2024, Musk said that a California law which bans teachers from being required to report a change in a child's gender identity or sexual orientation was the "final straw" in deciding to move the headquarters of SpaceX and Twitter from California to Texas.
Musk considers artificial intelligence to be one of the most significant threats to the human race, has received considerable criticism for his comments and actions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, supports the colonization of Mars, favors individualized transport over public transport, and has opposed banning TikTok. Musk has also been highly critical of Wikipedia; describing the encyclopedia as "woke", controlled by the mainstream media and far-left activitists, and has called for its defunding.
Musk has frequently spoken about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence (AI), declaring it as "the most serious threat to the survival of the human race". During a 2014 interview at the MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium, Musk described AI as humanity's largest existential threat, stating his belief in the need for regulatory oversight.
Musk invested in DeepMind, an AI firm, and Vicarious, a company working to improve machine intelligence, and was formerly co-chairman of OpenAI as a co-founder. Musk later criticized OpenAI for becoming closed-sourced and for-profit, and interpreted its chatbot ChatGPT of political bias. In March 2023, he signed an open letter calling for a pause on large-scale AI experiments, citing profound risks for society. The president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), Robert D. Atkinson, argued that Musk and others stating that AI is the "largest existential threat to humanity" is "not a very winning message if you want to get AI funding out of Congress to the National Science Foundation."
In 2014, Musk expressed his concerns referencing Terminator, stating "we should try to make sure the outcomes are good, not bad". In 2015, as an advisor to the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, an organization focused on advanced technologies, Musk donated $10 million. The following year, when asked whether he thinks humans live in a computer simulation, perhaps controlled by a vast AI, Musk stated that "the odds that we're in 'base reality' is one in billions." Harvard physicist Lisa Randall disputed this arguing there was "no real evidence" of a simulation.
Musk's opinions about AI have provoked controversy and have been criticized by experts such as Yann LeCun, who contended that Musk's panic was influenced by reading Nick Bostrom's book Superintelligence, and by Musk's attraction to the idea that he will save humanity. Facebook's head of AI said that Musk was ill-informed about AI and noted that his comments about a future machine takeover distracts people from real, immediate AI concerns, such as algorithms exacerbating inequality. Consequently, according to CNBC, Musk is "not always looked upon favorably" by the AI research community. Mark Zuckerberg has clashed with Musk on the issue and called his AI warnings "pretty irresponsible".
In November 2024, while speaking at the AI Safety Summit in London, attended by world leaders and tech figures, Musk applauded the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for hosting the event. In doing so, he reiterated his concerns that the intelligence is "potentially the most pressing [existential risks] that we face", while anticipating that it would become "far more intelligent" than human beings.
Musk has received criticism over his views and actions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2020, Musk referred to COVID-19 as a "specific form of the common cold", stated that "the coronavirus panic is dumb", and that the "danger of panic still far exceeds danger of corona imo. If we over-allocate medical resources to corona, it will come at expense of treating other illnesses". Musk has additionally been criticized for tweeting contentious comments on the disease, including that "Kids are essentially immune, but elderly with existing conditions are vulnerable", and for speculating that the pandemic would soon be ending according to "current trends". In addition, he promoted articles which suggested that healthcare companies were inflating COVID-19 case numbers for financial reasons.
When the Alameda County Sheriff ordered all non-essential businesses to shut down, Musk and Tesla initially refused to comply, arguing that vehicle manufacturing and energy infrastructure are critical sectors, citing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Musk called the lockdown "fascist" on a Tesla earnings call, comparing the restrictions to forced imprisonment, and later sent out numerous tweets opposing mandatory lockdowns such as "FREE AMERICA NOW."
In March 2020, in response to a request to repurpose the Tesla factory to make urgently needed ventilators, Musk promised that Tesla would make ventilators "if there is a shortage". When Nate Silver responded that there was a current shortage, Musk replied, "Ventilators are not difficult, but cannot be produced instantly." After figures such as New York City mayor Bill de Blasio highlighted their hospitals' ventilator shortage and responded to Musk's offer, Musk said he thought the ventilators which Tesla was working on would probably be unneeded. A week later, Musk received widespread requests from dignitaries around the world, including the Ukrainian Health minister, Bolivia's Ambassador for Science and Technology to Silicon Valley, and Nigeria's Ministry of Finance. When asked about what they received from Musk, California hospital representatives noted that they received CPAP machines made by ResMed instead and not "full ventilators", though expressed gratitude.
In May 2020, Musk reopened Tesla's Fremont production line in defiance and violation of Alameda County's orders and tweeted that "If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me." Musk also announced that Tesla would be moving its headquarters to Texas or Nevada and that Tesla had filed a lawsuit against Alameda County challenging its "shutdown" of the Fremont factory; the suit was subsequently withdrawn. The Alameda County Public Health Department explained it was waiting on a plan that Tesla had promised to provide by May 11 that would walk through how it would protect workers' health during the COVID-19 pandemic. An opening date of Monday, May 18 had been penciled in for Tesla, pending approval — the same date that Fiat Chrysler, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors were also due to restart production.
In November 2020, the phrase "Space Karen" began to trend on Twitter after a scientist referred to Musk as such, over comments Musk made questioning the effectiveness of COVID-19 testing. Musk was also said to have spread misinformation about the virus by virologist Angela Rasmussen. with Musk referring to the virus as "a type of cold". The following month, Politico named Musk's prediction that there would be "close to zero new cases" as one of "the most audacious, confident and spectacularly incorrect prognostications about the year". Two years later, Musk tweeted "My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci", drawing attention from US lawmakers. In February 2023, he praised anti-vaccine comments made by Woody Harrelson during Saturday Night Live.
In February 2025 Musk claimed during an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that International Space Station (ISS) crew Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore "were left up there for political reasons, which is not good." This claim was challenged by former ISS commander Andreas Mogensen which caused Musk to attack Mogensen calling him an "idiot" and "fully retarded." Mogensen responded to the attack saying "Elon, I have long admired you and what you have accomplished, especially at SpaceX and Tesla. You know as well as I do, that Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as has been the plan since last September. Even now, you are not sending up a rescue ship to bring them home. They are returning on the Dragon capsule that has been on ISS since last September." Mogensen received the support of fellow astronauts brothers Mark Kelly and Scott Kelly, Musk responded saying that Mogensen had attacked him "despite having no idea what ACTUALLY happened." and by posting on X at Scott Kelly "Btw, your brother claims to be independent, but is just a Dem donor shill." Musk's innactuate claim that Williams and Wilmore had been abandoned by the Biden administration was repeated by President Trump.
Following the digital dispute Musk argued that the ISS should be deorbited early and the funds redirected to Mars exploration. Musk clarified that his view was that “The decision is up to the President, but my recommendation is as soon as possible. I recommend 2 years from now,”
Musk has long been an advocate for space colonization, especially the colonization of Mars. As early as 2001, Elon became involved with the nonprofit Mars Society and has repeatedly pushed for humanity colonizing Mars, in order to become an interplanetary species and lower the risks of human extinction. In 2002 he left the society and began focusing on his own initiatives, and later envisioned establishing a direct democracy on Mars, with a system in which more votes would be required to create laws than remove them. Concerned with human population decline, Musk has described becoming "a multiplanet civilization".
At a Tesla event on the sidelines of the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems in December 2017, Musk expressed his disappointment with public transport, citing the timing and locations for reasons why "everyone doesn't like it", suggesting this was why people prefer "individualized transport" instead.
Afterwards, he dismissed an audience member's response that public transportation functioned effectively in Japan. His comments sparked widespread criticism from both members of the public and transit experts. Urban planning expert Brent Toderian started the hashtag #GreatThingsThatHappenedonTransit which was widely adopted by Twitter users in order to dispel Musk's notion that everybody hated public transport. Yonah Freemark, an urbanist and journalist specializing in planning and transportation, summarized Musk's views on public transport as being terrible.
Jarrett Walker, a public transport expert, said that "Musk's hatred of sharing space with strangers is a luxury (or pathology) that only the rich can afford", referring to the theory that planning a city around the preferences of a minority yields an outcome that usually does not work for the majority. Musk responded with "You're an idiot", then specifed "sanctimonious idiot". The exchange received a significant amount of media attention and prompted Nobel laureate Paul Krugman to criticise the controversy.
In April 2023, Musk said he was against banning TikTok in the United States, although he argued that a ban would increase Twitter's active users. In 2024, Musk opposed Australian plans to fine social media sites which enabled misinformation on their platforms, and to limit social media access for those under 16, with Musk commenting that it "Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians."
In 2019, Musk described his Wikipedia article as "insane" and described it as a "war zone". The following year, he encouraged his Twitter followers to "trash" the page, which led to the article being protected. In April 2022, Musk tweeted: "They say history is written by the victors, but not on Wikipedia if the losing party is still alive & has lots of time on their hands!", in a reference to the article of Tesla Inc. co-founder Martin Eberhard.
Musk responded to the December 2022 Twitter suspensions Wikipedia entry by proclaiming the site was "controlled by the MSM [mainstream media]", making it untrustworthy. In response, the Wikimedia Foundation changed a message appealing for donations to "Wikipedia is not for sale", stating "there is no danger that someone will buy Wikipedia and turn it into their personal playground".
In October 2023, Musk criticized Wikipedia as "inherently hierarchical" and being "subject to the biases of higher ranking editors." In response to the Wikipedia funding appeal, Musk offered $1 billion in funding if Wikipedia changed its name to "Dickipedia". In October 2024, Musk stated the website was "controlled by far-left activists", discouraged donations, and characterized the online encyclopedia using the phrase "woke mind virus".
In January 2025, Musk called for Wikipedia to be "defunded" and referred to it as "legacy media propaganda", in response to his Wikipedia article being edited to describe the alleged "Nazi salute" he gave during a speech after the inauguration of Donald Trump. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales responded by saying: "If Elon wanted to help, he'd be encouraging kind and thoughtful intellectual people he agrees with to engage." Le Monde and the AFP described Wikipedia as being a "natural adversary to X".
In March 2025, Margaret Talbot wrote an article in The New Yorker dealing with the topic: "Elon Musk Also Has a Problem with Wikipedia" Talbot connected Musk's documented promotion of misinformation and his attacks against "mainstream media" with his admiration for "radical-right populism", citing how a study connected such conservative views with the "propensity to spread misinformation":
Musk's comments and actions have received condemnation from some of the governments and leaders for his involvement in European politics, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President of France Emmanuel Macron, Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, and Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Store.
He has been critical of Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war, praised China's economic and climate goals, suggested that Taiwan and China should resolve Cross-strait relations, and was described as having a close relationship with the Chinese government. In Europe, Musk expressed support for Ukraine in 2022 during the Russian invasion, but later backtracked, recommending Ukraine cede its Russia-occupied territories, often mocking Zelensky, and supported the far-right Alternative for Germany in Germany in 2024.
Regarding British politics, Musk blamed the 2024 UK riots on mass migration and open borders, criticized Starmer for what he described as a "two-tier" policing system, suggested British politician Jess Phillips should be imprisoned, and that Starmer was complicit in child sexual exploitation. Musk was subsequently invoked as being responsible for spreading misinformation and amplifying the far-right. He has also voiced his support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson and pledged electoral support for Reform UK.
In November 2022, Musk shared a right-wing fake news website which promoted a conspiracy theory about the attack on Paul Pelosi. The following year, In the wake of a mass shooting at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, Musk baselessly tried to cast doubt on evidence collected by journalists regarding the shooter's political beliefs, describing the event as a "psyop". Musk doubled down on his denial of the evidence that the shooter was a white supremacist in a CNBC interview 10 days later. Musk also boosted a tweet promoting an antisemitic blood libel conspiracy theory about adrenochrome, frequently invoked as part of QAnon.
In November 2023, Musk endorsed a tweet referencing an antisemitic conspiracy theory that "hordes of minorities" are infiltrating Western countries and that Jews are pushing hatred against white people. The White House condemned Musk's endorsement of the tweet as "unacceptable". He also shared a meme promoting the widely discredited far-right Pizzagate conspiracy theory, and after a few hours, Musk deleted the tweet.
Musk has spoken against a proposed wealth tax and said that in general he supported estate taxes. He is also opposed to Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts. In 2024 Musk called a proposal from the British government to increase estate taxes on farms valued at more than a million pounds "going full Stalin." Musk is an opponent of short-selling, has repeatedly criticized the practice, and argued it should be illegal. He has engaged with short-selling critics via social media and used Tesla merchandise as a means of mocking those who short the Tesla stock.
On the topic of subsidizing renewable energy, Musk has stated that he does not believe the U.S. government should provide subsidies to companies but should instead use a carbon tax to price in the negative externality of climate change and discourage poor behavior. Musk believes that the free market would achieve the best solution, and that producing environmentally unfriendly vehicles should come with its own consequences. Musk has advocated against funding for charging stations in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, maintaining that oil and gas subsidies should also be eliminated. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders refuted Musk, describing his hypocrisy for receiving "billions in corporate welfare" before opposing a $2 trillion stimulus package that included provisions for specific companies and interest groups.
Musk holds strong pronatalist views; The Guardian has characterized Musk as "The world's most famous pronatalist", and according to People, he has had 13 children with multiple different women.
Speaking at The Wall Street Journal's CEO Council session in 2021, Musk stated that a declining birth rate, and consequent population decline, is one of the biggest risks to human civilization. The following year, he argued that population collapse, due to low birth rates, is a superior risk to civilization than global warming, and his views on population collapse were challenged by demographers. In 2023, Musk has asserted that declining birth rates pose an existential threat to humanity and has donated ten million dollars to the University of Texas at Austin to further research on the potential risks. Musk has also argued that "smart" people in particular are not having children, a view which has been criticized as too close to eugenics.
In the early 2010s, when he was asked if he thought that science and religion could co-exist, Musk replied "Probably not", and later, he denounced a plan to create a religion which is based on the worship of an artificially intelligent 'Godhead'. By 2023, Musk had said that he considers himself "aspirationally Jewish", and noted the influence that his attending a Hebrew preschool had on him. The following year, Musk tweeted about Christianity, stating he is a believer in the principles of Christianity, such as love thy neighbor as thyself and turn the other cheek. He also engaged in a viral two-hour conversation with Jordan Peterson that explored various topics, including the role of Christianity in his life. During the interview, he described himself as a "cultural Christian". In 2024, Musk stated that he is a "big believer in the principles of Christianity.