No, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy aren’t part of World Economic Forum; they’re critics

President-elect Donald Trump tasked X owner Elon Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy  with leading a new Department of Government Efficiency to slash spending and regulations.

A social media post criticized Trump’s choice, claiming both men are part of the World Economic Forum, a nongovernmental, international nonprofit organization that hosts annual meetings of political, business and other leaders in Davos, Switzerland. 

"We're talking about the same Elon Musk that is a part of the World Economic Forum," a man in a Nov. 12 Instagram video said. He later added, "Also, Vivek Ramaswamy is a part of the World Economic Forum."

The 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 and Instagram.)

The Instagram post is wrong about Musk and Ramaswamy and their connection to the World Economic Forum, which has been the subject of numerous conspiracy theories, including that it wants to control the world.

Both Musk and Ramaswamy have been critical of the World Economic Forum, and Ramaswamy sued the group in 2023 for using his name.

As world leaders were meeting in Davos in January, Musk shared a Jan. 18 X post in which Grok, X’s generative artificial intelligence tool, "roasts" World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab.

Musk has long criticized the World Economic Forum. In January 2023, he called it an "unelected world government that the people never asked for and don’t want."

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Before the 2023 Davos meeting, Musk said Dec. 30 on X that he declined an invitation to attend because it sounded "boring." World Economic Forum spokesperson Yann Zopf told The Associated Press that Musk wasn’t invited that year and hadn’t been invited since 2015. Zopf told the news outlet that Musk had not attended the event after previous invites.

Ramaswamy, a former 2024 Republican presidential candidate, is also a longtime critic of the World Economic Forum. Ramaswamy is a wealthy biotech entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author who became an avid supporter of Trump on the campaign trail after dropping out of the race in January.

Ramaswamy said the organization named him one of its Young Global Leaders in 2021 and that he filed a lawsuit to force it to remove his name. Each year, the World Economic Forum selects 100 leaders under 40 who they think can help better the world.

In an Aug. 1, 2023, X post in which he described himself as a "leading opponent in America of the World Economic Forum's agenda," Ramaswamy said he "explicitly rejected their ridiculous award" and filed a lawsuit after they failed to remove his name.

In a reply to his X post, Ramaswamy shared what he said was a letter from World Economic Forum lawyers apologizing for using his name.

PolitiFact contacted the World Economic Forum for comment, but didn’t immediately receive a response. A spokesperson for the group told the New York Post in April 2023 that Ramaswamy was invited as a potential member of the Young Global Leaders community, but that he declined to be nominated.

Ramaswamy in his 2024 presidential campaign countered claims that he was affiliated with the World Economic Forum. His campaign website addressed the allegation, writing that "Vivek is Klaus Schwab’s worst nightmare."

In a July 2023 interview with conservative influencer Jack Posobiec, Ramaswamy said, "World Economic Forum. What is my relationship with them? Answer none. Absolutely none, other than being probably their top critic in the United States."

An Instagram post’s claim that Musk and Ramaswamy are part of the World Economic Forum is not backed by evidence. Both men are vocal critics of the organization. The claim is False.