New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has responded to the White House Advisor Peter Navarro’s accusations of spreading “propaganda” on social media platform X, saying people decide the narrative on his social media platform.

The verbal spat between Musk and US senior counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing Navarro happened amid a dispute regarding India’s purchases of Russian oil.

Navarro had posted on X that “India buys Russian oil purely to profit. It didn’t buy any before Russia invaded Ukraine. Indian govt spin machine moving high tilt. Stop killing Ukranians. Stop taking American jobs,” while criticising the Washington Post’s coverage of India-US relations.

X’s fact check by Community Notes flagged his comments as misleading, stating that India’s sovereign energy purchases comply with international law.

Navarro then criticised Musk for allowing “crap notes” and claimed that Indian “special interests” were influencing US debates.

Musk responded by saying, “On this platform, the people decide the narrative… You hear all sides of an argument. Community Notes corrects everyone, no exceptions. Notes data & code is public source. Grok provides further fact-checking.”

The Indian government also dismissed Navarro’s statements amid the ongoing dispute with the MEA spokesperson calling them “inaccurate and misleading statements.”

Navarro had earlier criticised India’s foreign policy, questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent engagements with the Russian and Chinese leaders at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, and declaring that “India needs to be with us, not Russia”.

US President Donald Trump has characterised India-US relations as a “very special relationship” and commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who referred to the partnership as “forward-looking.”

Trump appeared to backtrack from his previous remark about “losing” India to China adding tha, “I’ll always be friends” with Prime Minister Modi”. Hours after this comment, Indian PM Modi reciprocated by saying that he appreciates and fully reciprocates President Trump’s sentiments.

–IANS

aar/na