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Quick Take
Social media posts falsely claim that Elon Musk banned author Stephen King from X, the social media platform owned by Musk. The rumor that King was banned originated on a satirical website. King’s X account remains active, and he used it on Nov. 13 to debunk the claim.
Full Story
While Vice President Kamala Harris drew support from progressive celebrities during her campaign, President-elect Donald Trump had the support of conservative figures, including Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of the social media platform X.
Musk’s support of Trump has frequently drawn the fire of author Stephen King, a longtime critic of Trump. Recently, social media posts falsely claimed Musk banned King from X after the author insulted him online.
A Nov. 10 Threads post showed photos of Musk and King, with text that claimed, “Elon Musk Bans Stephen King Permanently From Platform X After He Trolled the Tech Mogul.”
Many of the social media posts baselessly claimed Musk had banned King from X after the author allegedly called him “The First Lady.” Posts on Threads mocked Musk for allegedly silencing his critic, with one reading, “So Stephen King was permanently banned from Twitter for calling Mr. Free Speech himself Elon Musk, ‘The First Lady.’ That’s funny.”
But King has not been exiled from X; his account is still active. King responded to the claim on a Nov. 13 post on X, saying, “I see there’s a rumor going around that I called the Musk-man Trump’s new first lady. I didn’t, but only because I didn’t think of it. There’s also a rumor going around that Muskie kicked me off Twitter. Yet here I am.”
The claim that King had been banned from the platform seems to have stemmed from a satirical article posted in July on the website Esspots, with the headline, “Elon Musk Bans Stephen King Permanently From Platform X After He Trolled the Tech Mogul.” The site had labeled it satire — a detail lost on many who reshared it as fact.
Esspots is a subsidiary of the satire website SpaceXMania, which “orbits around Elon Musk.” SpaceXMania doesn’t disclose publisher information on its website, but the New York Times reported that the site’s operator is based in Pakistan. The link was shared by the Facebook handle SpaceX Fanclub, which also noted that it was satire.
King, who has a history of criticizing Musk, has been the subject of previous rumors that he left the platform. In January 2023, King wrote on X: “There are persistent rumors that I have left Twitter. I have not. I may do so eventually, there are many things about the Musk iteration of the site that I don’t care for, but that day is not today. You don’t fix a thing by leaving it.”
King has trolled Musk over his political leanings and pro-Trump posts on X. On Nov. 3, King wrote, “The Musk-man has posted 3,000 times on Twitter in the last month. Most are pro-Trump disinformation and outright lies. Remember, he has skin in the game. Consider his posts accordingly.”
Earlier this year, King also suggested that President Joe Biden should step aside in favor of a new Democratic candidate, prompting Musk to reply, “Even Stephen King is voting for Trump!” That, too, isn’t true. King supported Harris.
Update, Nov. 15: King announced on Nov. 14 that he was leaving X, saying “the atmosphere has just become too toxic.” He invited his X followers to follow him on Threads.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org is one of several organizations working with Facebook to debunk misinformation shared on social media. Our previous stories can be found here. Facebook has no control over our editorial content.
Sources
Collins, Kaitlin. “Elon Musk exerts deepening influence on Donald Trump’s presidential transition.” CNN. 10 Nov 2024.
Gomez, Dessi and Tom Tapp. “Trump Celebrity Endorsements: A List Of Celebrities Supporting The Ex-POTUS.” Deadline. 5 Nov 2024.
Kurtz, Judy and Amie Parnes. “A-list celebrity endorsements boomerang on Harris, Democrats.” The Hill. 9 Nov 2024.
Ramachandrian, Naman. “‘Trump Was a Horrible President and Is a Horrible Person,’ Says Stephen King.” Variety. 15 Aug 2022.
Specter, Emma. “From the Obamas to Charli XCX, 16 Celebrities Who Have Endorsed Kamala Harris for President.” Vogue. 24 Jul 2024.
Stephen King (@StephenKing). “I see there’s a rumor going around that I called the Musk-man Trump’s new first lady. I didn’t, but only because I didn’t think of it. There’s also a rumor going around that Muskie kicked me off Twitter. Yet here I am.” X. 13 Nov 2024.
Stephen King (@StephenKing). “There are persistent rumors that I have left Twitter. I have not. I may do so eventually; there are many things about the Musk iteration of the site that I don’t care for, but that day is not today. You don’t fix a thing by leaving it.” X. 8 Jan 2023.
Thompson, Stuart A. “Fake News Still Has a Home on Facebook.” New York Times. 13 Jun 2024.