Elon Musk among prominent conservative figures to spread false rumors of Haitians eating pets

Social media was abuzz on Monday after Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance made a series of claims related to Haitian immigrants abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.

The accusations, which were labeled as "vile and false" by Haitian leaders, were quickly debunked by the city's police department. But not before conservative figures ranging from Trump advisor Stephen Miller and pundit Charlie Kirk to Senator Ted Cruz and billionaire Elon Musk spread the false rumor like wildfire across social media.

The controversy centers on a small town in Springfield, Ohio. A widely circulated Facebook post claimed that Haitian immigrants were caught trying to eat a neighbor's cat. The post also alleged that ducks and geese at a local park had faced similar fates. This story was further spread by a so-called breaking-news account on X, formerly known as Twitter, along with a photo of a Black man carrying a goose.

The post quickly gained traction among right-wing commentators, including Trump adviser Stephen Miller:

Controversial right-wing personality Charlie Kirk quickly got in on the action, posting on his X account that "residents of Springfield, OH are reporting that Haitians are eating their family pets, another gift of the Biden-Harris mass immigration replacement plan", adding a six word rallying cry: "Save our pets. Secure our borders."

High ranking officials like Texas senator Ted Cruz were also among those spreading the news, although he chose a much more cynical way of communicating it by sharing a meme with two cats and a caption that read "Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants won't eat us":

Elon Musk Amplifies the Haitian Rumors to a Broader Audience

But few conservative personalities were as active on the subject on social media as X founder and Trump ally Elon Musk, who amplified the unverified claims to an even broader audience through everything from memes to an AI-generated image of the Republican presidential candidate holding ducks and cats inside a lake.

"It was a matter of time before the story snowballed from various unverified reports, with people all over X and other platforms chucking their own little hunks of snow at it" as The Washington Post's Philip Bump explained. "In MAGA world, the alleged pet-eating is already a matter of fact." AI-generated images featuring Trump were especially going viral on Monday, as Trump supporters made a field day out of the news, pushing the anti-immigrant rhetoric in the process: