An investigative reporter who debunked an outlandish conspiracy theory about X owner Elon Musk has been banned from the social media platform — sparking protests over censorship by the self-proclaimed free speech absolutist.
Jacqueline Sweet, a contributor to the conservative magazine The Spectator World, took a deep dive into the long-running rumors that Musk was using an account under the name Adrian Dittmann to promote himself.
Sweet tracked down the real Dittman, a German entrepreneur living in the South Pacific country of Fiji, to debunk the theory.
After Sweet’s article about Dittmann was published on Saturday, Musk responded with his own cryptic tweet at X hours later.
“I am Adrian Dittmann. It’s time for the world to know,” Musk wrote.
But the seemingly innocuous story took another strange turn on Monday when The Spectator World managing editor Matt McDonald announced that Sweet’s X’s account had been suspended for 30 days and links to her article had been tagged with a warning, claiming “violent or misleading content”.
He also shared screenshots showing that users trying to access her article were faced with warnings about unsafe content.
Musk and X did not immediately return requests for comment.
Sweet’s last post on X came at 1:37 PM on Saturday, when she replied to a user about her article.
“People are so committed to believing that Elon is Adrian’s thing,” she wrote.
Musk’s cryptic response came about 10 hours later.
Sweet’s apparent ban sparked a firestorm with critics of Musk and X accusing the platform of suppressing content to protect Musk’s image.
“This is a direct attack on freedom of the press,” wrote one X user.
Others noted the irony of Musk’s earlier condemnation of the site formerly known as Twitter when it suppressed The Post’s Hunter Biden laptop scandal during the 2020 election.
Musk’s supporters cheered Sweet’s suspension, arguing that the reporter crossed an ethical line by publishing private details about Dittmann.
Sweet used a combination of social media analysis, AI comparisons, and government video footage to seemingly unmask the real Dittman.
His business ventures and personal history, including participation in a Musk Foundation carbon removal competition, matched the details provided by Dittmann’s account, the report said.
The Dittmann X account had raised eyebrows as early as 2023 for its lavish praise of Musk, sparking rumors that the Tesla CEO had been using the account to defend himself and promote his views.
Critics pointed out the similarities in writing styles – with some even suggesting that Musk was using a voice modulator to pose as Dittmann in X Spaces’ live chat rooms.
Major media outlets such as Rolling Stone, Newsweek and The Verge fueled the conspiracy theory, with some claiming to have evidence directly linking Musk and Dittmann.
YouTube / Government of Fiji
In February 2023, Dittmann made headlines when Musk directly acknowledged the similarity in their voices after the former appeared on Alex Jones’ controversial InfoWars podcast, the Daily Mail reported.
The billionaire tech entrepreneur commented: “At some point there will only be 100 clones of my artificial intelligence that sound exactly the same.”
Speaking later at X FACILITIES Last February, the pair spoke to each other directly addressing claims that Musk was posing as Dittmann.
Musk said, “Alex Jones do you think it’s me?”
Dittmann begins to explain the conspiracy before he is interrupted by Musk.
“There are eight billion people on Earth,” Musk said with a laugh. “Chances are, someone who sounds like me somewhere. And you are that person.”
“Honestly, I can’t believe you’re not me,” he joked.
“People think I’m legitimately your clone,” Dittmann replied. “Like one of your Neuralink experiments. Can you clarify that I’m not one of your Neuralink experiments? Or maybe I am and I just wouldn’t understand?”
Musk shot back: “Well, the thing is, you even ask questions the way I would ask questions!”
The banter ended with Ditmann praising Musk for his work on X, noting that he used Spaces “practically eight hours a day, three times a week” before chatting about Musk’s family.
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and rebranded the site as X the following year.
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