Fact Check: Was Elon Musk Photographed With Ghislaine Maxwell?

Yes.

By
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Following the news that Elon Musk’s offer to purchase Twitter had been accepted, social media was flooded with a picture of the billionaire with Ghislaine Maxwell.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Narwhal

    Looks like a photobomb to me. She is clearly standing behind him, he seems unaware of her, and it is the only photo of them together.

    If it was a photobomb then that raises the question of why she did it. What did she hope to achieve. Also, who took the photo, who asked Elon to pose for a photo, and who else she did similar things to and why.

    Edit: This reminds me of the DC couple who went to an Obama era WH party without an invitation and who had been doing similar things for years, not just at the Obama WH. Power attracts all sorts for all sorts of reasons. It isn’t always good to be king.

    Edit: This also reminds me of the fact that Keanu Reeves apparently has a policy of not touching fans in photos taken with them. If he has his arm around them it hovers over them without touching them. Someone likely gave him good advice early on in his career or he learned from experience directly or indirectly, his own or others.

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  2. Avatar photo
    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    I think the photo says more about the oscars and vanity fair than it does about Elon Musk. Ghislaine was welcome in that circle of people...

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    BestUsedCarSales

    It's weird that we've all seemingly agreed as a culture that Italian accents are basically the only accent people are allowed to do for laughs these days.
    I'm not upset by this, just think it's interesting how all sides seem to have converged to this. It's the invisible hand at work.

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    1. cb76

      Oh, you'd be amazed at the consequence-free laughs you can get with an Irish accent these days.

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      Dave T

      I refute you thusly: C3PO's Indian accent is hilarious.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9tgLnI0fFc

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  4. Avatar photo
    Pat Riot

    The freak out--on both sides this time--over Musk buying Twitter is just plain stupid.

    Democrats are suddenly feigning horror at a billionaire owning Twitter, apparently unaware of who controls the company now, and who controls *all* of these companies, who controls Fox News, the New York Times, and every major media company in the last 100 years.

    Republicans are giddy that Trump and other key Republicans will be let back on Twitter, apparently unaware that:

    1) Musk has made no such promises and has clearly only spent a few seconds thinking about the problems that Twitter has in moderating content in today's world.

    and 2) Republicans being let back on Twitter could make things *worse* for the GOP especially in November because their campaign for swing districts consists of lying the lie that Trump no longer exists when he's still the indisputable leader of the party.

    The most likely outcome is that Musk buys Twitter, spends a few months learning what the *actual thing he just bought* really is, and then says in effect, "oh gee, who knew that running Twitter could be so complicated" and keeps the core editorial policy in place save a bit of window dressing.



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    1. cb76

      Alternatively, he makes good on removing all the guardrails and moderators, the platform swiftly degrades into a cesspool of porn, death threats and relentless shit posting, and the whole project implodes like a black hole of malevolent frivolity. Which would also be a win.

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      1. Avatar photo
        Pat Riot

        One pundit pointed something important out: all of *Twitter's* platforms--Apple, Google, their systems providers--all have standards of their own that they enforce. Apple could turn Twitter off *tomorrow* if they thought they were violating their T&Cs.

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        1. cb76

          Good point. I'm not getting on twitter if I have to pull it up on safari every time I use it rather than just press the app on my phone, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

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About Alec Dent

Alec Dent is the culture editor and a staff writer for The Dispatch. He is a graduate of the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at UNC Chapel Hill, and previously oversaw The Dispatch's fact checking team.
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