‘Some of the things I say will be incorrect’: Elon Musk admits to spreading misinformation about condoms sent to Gaza

Elon Musk admits that he spread misinformation about U.S. foreign aid, including the absurd claim that the U.S. sent $50 million worth of condoms to Gaza.

One of Donald Trump’s earliest moves as President of the United States was to freeze foreign aid. While the assistance has put an unprecedented halt on life-saving services, such as HIV treatment, worldwide, Trump and his righthand man, Musk, insisted the freeze was necessary to stop alleged fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars. As an example of such misuse, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted that $50 million worth of condoms were sent to Gaza. It’s believed Musk concocted the bizarre story, as Leavitt claimed his unofficial agency, DOGE, had discovered the condom funds. MAGA instantly pounced on the claims, with Trump later claiming the condoms were sent to Hamas because they used them as a bomb-making method.

Of course, from the moment the words left Leavitt’s mouth, most recognized they were untrue. She offered no proof, and the claim simply made no sense. In reality, USAID spent far less than $50 million for condom shipments worldwide in 2023, none of which went to the Middle East. For weeks, though, Trump and his followers continued repeating the $50 million condom claim, spreading blatant lies and rage bait. Only on February 10 did Musk finally admit the story was false.

Elon Musk admits to spreading misinformation

Recently, Musk took over a press conference with Trump in the Oval Office. During the meeting, a reporter finally confronted him on the fake Gaza condom story. A journalist noted that, despite his claims that condoms were sent to Gaza, fact-checkers discovered condoms had actually been sent to Mozambique for HIV prevention. She asked, “How can we make sure that all the statements you said were correct?” Musk responded nonchalantly, “First of all, some of the things I say will be incorrect and should be corrected.” He suggested the blatant lie was a perfectly understandable mistake, stating, “Nobody’s going to a bat thousand. I mean, any – you know, we will make mistakes, but we’ll act quickly to correct any mistakes.”

However, Musk continued to spread misinformation in that same press conference. After admitting to his mistake, he added, “I’m not sure we should be sending $50 million worth of condoms anywhere, frankly.” The $50 million figure never existed, though. USAID condom aid was around $8 million worldwide for the 2023 fiscal year. Yet, he’s still repeating false claims that somehow, USAID gave a single country six times more condoms than it typically sends out worldwide in a year.

Additionally, it’s difficult to accept his claim that the incident was an honest mistake. Even if he somehow did, for example, mix up Mozambique and Gaza, he would’ve thought that $5.4 million in condoms went to Gaza. Not only did he somehow come up with the name of a territory that wasn’t sent any condoms, but he also came up with a figure that never existed. There’s a big difference between accidentally getting accurate information incorrect and completely creating false information. Ultimately, though, it doesn’t matter if his mistake was intentional or not. The fact is, America simply can’t trust him to accurately tell them where their money is going, which raises concerns because it means citizens have no way of knowing if his budget and department cuts are justified or not. Is he cutting them based on objective evidence or based on imaginary $50 million shipments of condoms?