"Elon Musk voiced support Tuesday for Pizzagate, the long-debunked conspiracy theory that... the Clintons and Democratic Party leaders ran a secret satanic child sex ring..."

"...in a D.C. pizzeria known as Comet Ping Pong. The theory, a mainstay of fringe Donald Trump supporters during the 2016 presidential campaign, was labeled 'fictitious' by D.C. police investigators. Musk’s post was the latest in what has become a string of tweets in which Musk boosted debunked theories and comes just one day after he visited Israel to try to tamp down anger over an explosion of antisemitism on X that has caused a growing number of advertisers to flee."

Writes Drew Harwell, in "Elon Musk boosts Pizzagate conspiracy theory that led to D.C. gunfire/The far-right theory motivated a gunman to fire multiple rounds inside the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Northwest Washington in 2016. Musk boosted the theory to his 164 million followers anyway" (WaPo).

Musk wants action and gets it. WaPo feeds the... I don't want to call Musk a troll, but he's seeking to be fed and WaPo is feeding him. I like to quote my mother: You'll only encourage him.

Meanwhile, I wish these WaPo articles would put the precise text of the tweet in question much closer to vague characterizations like "voiced support." He's not absolved from all blame if he sticks to merely referring to things and expressing wonderment, but I need to know how close he came to saying something false or evil. The harder it is to find the actual text of the tweet, the more likely it seems that the characterization is slanted and inflammatory.

Ah. Here it is. The 7th paragraph:

Musk, who bought the social network formerly known as Twitter last year for $44 billion, posted a meme on Tuesday implying that the expert who debunked Pizzagate “went to jail for child porn.” Musk said that “does seem at least a little suspicious.”

Do you think that's "voic[ing] support" for the conspiracy theory? Obviously, The Washington Post could have been more accurate in its characterization of Musk's enigmatic winking at the theory, but I'm fairly sure Musk wanted the mainstream media to overreact.... perhaps as a test of how they process ambiguous statements.

The Washington Post has boosted Pizzagate, and its vigor going after Musk might — to some people — seem at least a little suspicious.

ADDED: The WaPo article links to this Reuters fact-check from last August: "Fabricated New York Post headline on ex-ABC journalist."

The image circulating features a New York Post headline that reads, “Award winning ABC journalist who ‘debunked’ pizzagate, pleads guilty in horrific child porn case.” The post on X, previously known as Twitter, had garnered about 551 reposts at the time of writing (here).No such headline exists on the New York Post’ website, however ( here ), ( here ). Coverage of Meek’s case by the New York Post (here) includes no mention of “Pizzagate”...

Meek did not publish an investigation about or “debunk Pizzagate” while at ABC (here), (ghostarchive.org/archive/PvDFu).... [Meek] co-authored a 2017 article about Russian propaganda during the Syrian war. It mentions “Pizzagate in passing (here)....