White House trade advisor Peter Navarro's repeated targeting of India on X has taken a new turn, with community notes on several of his posts on the social media platform. The pushback began after a recent claim he made about India’s oil trade with Russia was debunked by users.
Navarro then launched a tirade against Elon Musk and X itself as he fumed over the community note. Several of the posts he made later in this context were also fact-checked on the platform.
'Classic game of crying wolf'
After his post targeting India on buying Russian oil was first flagged on Saturday, September 7, Navarro had a meltdown. He directly slammed Elon Musk for the "crap note", accusing the Tesla CEO of letting propaganda into people's posts.
That post was also fact-checked with yet another community note that explained how the system works. "Community Notes on X is a crowd-sourced program where X users can add context, fact-checks, to potentially misleading posts. Contributors write notes, which are then rated by other contributors with diverse viewpoints," the note read.
After this note, the White House trade advisor further intensified his attack on the X feature, launching a poll accusing "Indian special interests" interfering with domestic dialogue. He had asked users if the social media platform should continue the feature.
{{/usCountry}}After this note, the White House trade advisor further intensified his attack on the X feature, launching a poll accusing "Indian special interests" interfering with domestic dialogue. He had asked users if the social media platform should continue the feature.
{{/usCountry}}About 74% users voted in favour of the feature until the time of writing this report.
Further intensifying the tug of war between Navarro and X, this poll was also fact-checked, this time accusing the White House official of "crying wolf".
The post preceding the one above, wherein Peter Navarro alleged that the community notes feature is where “foreign interests masquerade as objective observers”, was also flagged.
'US imports Russian uranium'
Flagging another one of Peter Navarro's posts claiming India didn't buy oil in "such large quantities" before Russia invaded Ukraine, a community note pointed out that the US also bought Russian uranium, claiming the imports grew by 20% ever since US President Donald Trump assumed office again.
"In 2024, the EU imported $25B worth of Russian energy, with total imports reaching $42B. Since Jan 2022, imports have hit $345B," the note claimed, citing some links.
Peter Navarro's anti-India post flagged, Musk's response
It all started on September 7 when Peter Navarro's post on India buying Russian oil was debunked. He had accused New Delhi of making a "profit" from the purchase, and feeding the "Russia war machine".
His allegation was debunked by a community note and he was called hypocritical for making the remarks. "India's legal, sovereign purchases of Russian oil for energy security do not violate international law. The US, while pressuring India, continues to import billions in Russian goods, like uranium, exposing a clear double standard," the note had said.
A day later, Elon Musk defended the popular X feature, saying it doesn't make any exceptions when it corrects people. "Notes, data, and code is public source. Grok provides further fact-checking," a part of Musk's post read, without directly referencing Peter Navarro.
Peter Navarro has repeatedly been targeting India ever since US President Donald Trump's announcement of 50% tariffs on Indian imports. He claims that the proceeds of the India-Russia energy deals are used by Moscow to fund its war with Ukraine.