'People Decide The Narrative': Elon Musk As X Fact-Checks Navarro’s India-Russia Oil Claims

Last Updated:September 08, 2025, 07:18 IST

Elon Musk defended X as a platform where “people decide the narrative” after Peter Navarro accused India of profiting from Russian oil, triggering a Community Note fact-check.

File photos of Elon Musk/Peter Navarro (AP)

Elon Musk on Sunday argued that X is the platform where “people decide the narrative" as it allows all sides of an argument and is fact-checked through Community Notes and Grok.

He also criticised the mainstream media, calling it unreliable and accusing it of “lying relentlessly or ignoring major stories that don’t fit their narrative."

This came hours after Peter Navarro, Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing for US President Donald Trump, had a meltdown after being corrected over spreading misinformation pertaining to India’s purchase of Russian oil on Saturday (US local time).

Calling the community note on X “crap", Navarro had alleged that Elon Musk is allowing “propaganda" and reiterated his accusations of India purchasing Russian oil only to make profits.

Musk also reshared a post claiming that while traditional news outlets have lost credibility, X has emerged as the real-time, fact-checkable source of news.

“As recent events have shown all too clearly, you can’t trust the legacy (fka mainstream) news at all," Musk wrote on X, as he shared another user’s claim that traditional news outlets have lost their reputation.

“They lie relentlessly or simply ignore major stories that don’t fit their collectively decided narrative," the billionaire added. 

“On this platform, the people decide the narrative. You hear all sides of an argument. Community Notes corrects everyone, no exceptions," Musk mentioned in another post.

“Notes data and code is public source. Grok provides further fact-checking," he added. 

NAVARRO AND HIS CLAIMS AGAINST INDIA

Navarro on Friday accused India of buying Russian oil “purely to profit" to feed the Russian “war machine" in Ukraine.

“FACTS: India highest tariffs costs US jobs. India buys Russian oil purely to profit/Revenues feed Russia war machine. Ukrainians/Russians die. US taxpayers shell out more. India can’t handle truth/spins," (sic), Navarro had posted on X.

Hours later, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform added a community note with the title “Readers added context they thought people might want to know".

It flagged that India’s purchase of Russian oil is for “energy security" and does not violate any sanctions. It also highlighted the United States’ import of uranium and minerals from Russia and termed it “hypocritical".

“India’s Russian oil purchases are for energy security, not just profit, & don’t violate sanctions. While India has some tariffs, the US has a trade surplus with it in services," the note mentioned.

“US also continues to import certain commodities from Russia, which is hypocritical," it added.

Navarro made the remarks in response to an article by the Washington Post, which described the conflicting efforts in Trump’s administration to mend the relationship with India.

The news piece by The Washington Post claimed that the inflammatory language used by Washington towards New Delhi is deepening the crisis in the relationship.

News world 'People Decide The Narrative': Elon Musk As X Fact-Checks Navarro’s India-Russia Oil Claims

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