Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed free speech absolutist, is elevating the latest conspiracy theory among right wing nutjobs to advance their anti-immigration propaganda.
First, immigrants were rapists. They were bringing drugs, crime. They were invading our country, and voting illegally.
Now Musk and conservative influencers are bringing the absurd. Several RWNJs have shared videos that are weaponizing unverified claims of cannibalism among Haitians during a time of violent civil unrest in the island nation.
Wingnut influencer Ian Miles Cheong started things off.
Musk himself was the subject of content moderation by his own platform, as X removed videos he re-shared that promoted unverified claims about cannibalistic gangs in Haiti.
Despite the lack of credible evidence, claims about cannibalism in Haiti have continued to spread on X. The videos being shared, some of which are years old, were most likely created by violent gangs as an intimidation tactic to scare locals, rather than evidence of widespread cannibalistic behavior.
NBC
While the U.S. State Department has not received credible reports of cannibalism amid the unrest in Haiti, misleadingly captioned images on social media have been widely accepted as proof that Haitians are eating each another. One video said to show two corpses being roasted in Haiti, viewed nearly half a million times on an X account, actually depicts Halloween decorations at a Chinese theme park in 2018, per the fact-checking website Snopes.
RS