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Grace Abels
By Grace Abels November 8, 2024

Don’t fall for IT: Claim that Stephen King was banned from X is satire

If Your Time is short

  • This claim originated as satire.

  • The author Stephen King still has an active X account.

Did Elon Musk bury horror author Stephen King in the X cemetery (or sematary, as King’s fans would say)?

"Elon Musk bans Stephen King permanently from platform X after he trolled the tech mogul," read a Nov. 2 Threads post.

An article linked in the post elaborated: "Oh boy, folks! If you thought the Twitterverse couldn’t get any wilder, buckle up!"

The Threads posts earned more than a thousand likes and almost as many comments, with people believing the claim writing, "Musk doesn’t believe in freedom of speech. He believes in hypocrisy," and, "I used to read every book Stephen put out but I’m disgusted, I’m done." 

But don’t get spooked; this didn’t happen. The Threads claim originated on a satire account. 


(Screenshot of Threads post)

Featured Fact-check

The Threads post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

SpaceX Fanclub, a satire account that says "nothing on this page is real," shared the same claim July 24 on its Facebook page. The satire post links to an article on Esspots, another satire website. 

But when the claim was reshared on Threads, it was not labeled as satire. PolitiFact has fact-checked numerous claims that have originated on SpaceX Fanclub and Esspots that have later spread without a satire label

The article linked in the viral Threads post is copied and pasted from the Esspots satire story shared July 24. 

King and Musk have gotten into tiffs on X, but King has an active Twitter account as of Nov. 7.  

The claim that Musk banned King permanently from X originated as satire. We rate this claim False. 

Our Sources

Threads post (archived), Nov. 2, 2024 

X profile, accessed Nov. 7, 2024

Xyno.Online, "Elon Musk Bans Stephen King Permanently From Platform X After He Trolled the Tech Mogul," (archived), Nov. 2, 2024

Facebook post (archived), July 24, 2024

Snopes, "Elon Musk Banned Stephen King from X?," Aug. 2, 2024

Esspots, "Elon Musk Bans Stephen King Permanently From Platform X After He Trolled the Tech Mogul," (archived), July 24, 2024

https://www.facebook.com/SpaceX6683

PolitiFact, "Satirical story about Candace Owens trying to ban Taylor Swift from the NFL spreads without context," June 25, 2024

PolitiFact, "Taylor Swift isn’t banned from upcoming NFL games (but maybe this zombie claim should be)," Sept. 26, 2024

PolitiFact, "Claims Elon Musk endorsed Caitlin Clark originated on satire site," Aug. 6, 2024

PolitiFact, "Taylor Swift did not lose a $125 million brand contract after endorsing Kamala Harris," Sept. 20, 2024

PolitiFact, "Claim that Elon Musk is funding ‘anti-woke’ show with Tucker Carlson is satire," Sept. 12, 2024

PolitiFact, "No, Steelers coach did not call Pride Month ‘woke crap.’ That claim started as satire," June 14, 2024

PolitiFact, "Not the real thing: Coca-Cola didn’t break ties with Taylor Swift after Kamala Harris endorsement," Sept. 18, 2024

PolitiFact, "No, Taylor Swift’s didn’t cancel Eras Tour shows after endorsing Kamala Harris," Sept. 18, 2024

PolitiFact, "No, Travis Kelce didn’t endorse Kamala Harris for president," Sept. 24, 2024

PolitiFact, "Jason Aldean didn’t refuse $500 million collaboration with Taylor Swift because her "music is woke"," Aug. 26, 2024

Advocate, ‘Elon Musk demands users stop ‘deadnaming’ Twitter after Stephen King trolls the billionaire," Feb. 15, 2024

Wikipedia, "Pet Sematary," accessed Nov. 7, 2024

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More by Grace Abels

Don’t fall for IT: Claim that Stephen King was banned from X is satire

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