Still, Musk defended his response to the anti-Semitic account. “But if you’re suggesting that in order to reply to anyone, you have to scroll through all their posts, that would make it impossible to use the system,” he said of his website. A Billionaire’s Fact-Checking Process Contrary to his earlier statements, Musk suggested later on in the deposition that he researches discourse before he joins it. “If you care about the truth, you have to go look about it,” Musk said. Musk’s own testimony reveals he did little to seek out the truth. “Would it be fair for me to say that, other than the tweets that you interacted with, you did not secure other information about this unmasked brawler?” Bankston asked at one point. “I don’t recall securing other information,” Musk responded. During his testimony, Musk criticized what he called the “traditional legacy news industry” while lauding X’s Community Notes, a website tool that allows users to add corrections or additional context to misleading or untrue posts. Musk called Community Notes “the best system on the internet” for fact-checking, and said he tagged Community Notes in his post referencing Brody as a show of “good faith,” the transcript shows. “And I think — I think I really did this in good faith, because I would not ask for a fact-check which is what I do by adding Community Notes,” Musk said, according to the transcript. Musk did tag Community Notes in his post about Brody, but a note was never added to the false claim. The post remains on X today without a correction. Musk was also asked about his interactions with posts on X, which can make an otherwise invisible post go instantly viral. Bankston pointed out that his post on X referring to a “college student who wants to join the govt” was seen more than a million times, according to X’s metrics. Musk downplayed the number and argued that his post was merely a reply to someone else, which attracted less viewership than his own post would. Elon Musk is being sued for defamation after falsely accusing a recent college graduate of being a neo-Nazi (featured on the left) that was unmasked during an Oregon Pride event that was disrupted by Proud Boys and neo-Nazis. Illustration: HuffPost; Photos: X/Getty Images Musk’s ‘Self-Inflicted Wounds’ Over the course of his testimony, Musk acknowledged his lack of restraint in posting on X and the negative impact it’s had on his company. He called them “self-inflicted wounds,” a reference to his own quote in Walter Isaacson’s 2023 biography about him, though he says he hasn’t read it. “I certainly — I would say that I — you know, I’m guilty of many self-inflicted wounds,” Musk testified. Last year, Motherboard and other internet sleuths traced a bizarre account on X to Musk himself. The account, @ermnmusk, appeared to be role-playing as Musk’s toddler son. “I will finally turn 3 on May 4th!” one post read. “I wish I was old enough to go to nightclubs. They sound so fun,” read another. Though the account’s name is not mentioned in the transcript, Monday’s court filing contained an exhibit of the @ermnmusk account that was shown to Musk during his testimony. In the filing, Bankston alleges that Musk deleted the account in February on the same day of the court’s discovery order. Asked about the account by Bankston during the deposition, Musk confirmed it was his, but dismissed it as a “test account.” “No, I would not use this account,” Musk testified. “It was just used for — for testing.” Later in the deposition, Musk again reflected on those “self-inflicted wounds.” “The — and going back to the sort of self-inflicted wounds, the Kevlar shoes, I think there’s — I’ve probably done — I may have done more to financially impair the company than to help it, but certainly I — I do not guide my posts by what is financially beneficial but what I believe is interesting or important or entertaining to the public,” he said. A day after Brody had been falsely linked to neo-Nazis, the recent college graduate uploaded a video to Instagram begging for the harassment to stop. “My family and I are just being harassed completely, and I would be more than happy to clear up any confusion if necessary,” Brody says in the video. “This is just so ridiculous and I just really can’t believe this is happening to me right now.” Near the end of the deposition, Bankston asked Musk if he believed he owed it to Brody to be accurate. Musk said: “I aspire to be accurate no matter who the person is.” “Do you think you lived up to that duty to Ben Brody or do you think you failed him?” Bankston asked. “I don’t think — I don’t think — I don’t think he has been meaningfully harmed by this,” Musk replied. Bankston pushed Musk on the question, leading to another argument between the two lawyers. Finally, Musk answered, reiterating his belief that he didn’t harm Brody. “People are attacked all the time in the media, online media, social media, but it is rare that that actually has a meaningful negative impact on their life,” Musk testified. TL;DR - fuck off, I’m rich.