‘Associated Propaganda’: Musk hits out at AP over Madgeburg terrorist attack

The billionaire has accused the agency of downplaying the severity of the Magdeburg car attack through its choice of language in its reports.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused the Associated Press (AP) of disseminating propaganda following the global news agency’s coverage of Friday’s deadly incident at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg.

Musk referred to AP, as “Associated Propaganda” in a post on X, which he owns, in which he criticized the agency’s reporting of the attack on civilians.

The billionaire’s comment was in response to criticism by an X user over AP’s headline – “A car has driven into a group of people at a Christmas market in Germany.”

A speeding vehicle rammed into a crowd at Magdeburg’s festive market on Friday evening, resulting in at least four fatalities, including a child, and injuring over 60 people, Bild reported, citing police.

The user accused AP of using passive language that downplayed the severity of the attack, stating, “You don’t hate the legacy media enough. The Associated Press uses a passive voice when reporting on the Christmas market terror attack in Magdeburg, Germany. As if the car simply drove itself peacefully, and the affected number of people small and insignificant.”

“It wasn’t a ‘group of people’—it was an entirely mass of people whose bodies were flung by the force of the impact, and many more who were crushed beneath the wheels as the vehicle zigzagged its way through the packed market,” he added.

The driver, identified as a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian doctor residing in Germany, was detained by police at the scene. Authorities have classified the act as a deliberate attack, though the motive remains under investigation.

AP stands for Associated Propaganda https://t.co/I0yT4wfL7n

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 20, 2024

Musk’s critique aligns with his history of challenging mainstream media outlets over perceived biases.

In 2022 Musk expressed concerns about the lack of public trust in news organizations, describing it as a “real problem.” This comment was in response to a Washington Post op-ed that criticized his involvement with X (then Twitter).

Earlier this year Musk claimed that the “propaganda level” in mainstream media is “tediously high” and accused long-established outlets of bias in the narratives that they offer. The attack has prompted increased security measures across Germany, with several towns canceling weekend Christmas markets as a precaution.

Earlier Musk lashed out at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, insisting he must resign immediately, after it emerged that the man who mowed through a crowded Christmas market in Germany was an Arab immigrant with a residence permit.

This incident mirrors previous attacks on Christmas markets in Germany, notably the 2016 Berlin attack in which a truck was deliberately driven into a crowded market, killing 12 people and injuring 56. The attacker in that instance, Anis Amri, a Tunisian national who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, fled the scene and was later killed in a shootout with police in Italy.