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A viral post circulating on Threads claims Elon Musk made controversial statements about preferring foreign workers due to lower labor costs. The post, which garnered over 5,000 likes, appeared to show Musk discussing the financial benefits of hiring international talent.
“Investing in Americans is actually hard,” the alleged Musk post reads. “Really hard. It costs money and time and effort to make a person productive. It’s a short term net loss. It’s much easier to bring in skilled workers who might not do quite a good a job, but will work for a fraction of the cost and be happy just to be here.”
Elon Musk: "Obviously, as someone who's an immigrant, I'm pro-immigrant. I just want to make sure that people who come here are going to be assets to society and that they're going to raise our standard of living."pic.twitter.com/2Q8TAdlTun
— Community Notes & Violations (@CNviolations) December 5, 2024
However, investigation reveals the post is fabricated. Musk himself addressed the situation on X, confirming the statement was not authentic.
While the viral post is false, Musk has previously expressed support for H-1B visas, even as President-elect Donald Trump expressed reservations about the program. On X, Musk cited America’s significant shortage of talented, motivated engineers as justification for utilizing the visa program.
"I think it's good actually to increase legal immigration with a simple requirement, like hardworking and high integrity, let them in, I think that's great but If there's illegal immigration and there's no filter well how do you know who's coming, you don't know"
-Elon Musk pic.twitter.com/ZRqQA5Q1sa
— SMX 🇺🇸 (@iam_smx) March 9, 2024
Trump has since softened his stance on the issue. “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” AP News reported.
This incident adds to a pattern of misinformation about Musk spreading online, including a recently debunked story claiming he visited a café while disguised as a homeless person.
