No, Taylor Swift didn’t say this quote about Elon Musk being ‘radicalized by his own algorithm’

Singer and songwriter Taylor Swift’s reputation for penning catchy lyrics and turning a creative musical phrase might have some social media users believing she’s the source of a quote about billionaire Elon Musk. 

"‘Elon Musk, the first human in history, to be radicalized by his own algorithm’ ~ Taylor Swift," read the Nov. 15 Threads post. 

We found other examples of the same claim shared on Facebook and Instagram. 

These posts were 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.)

We found no evidence that Swift said this about Musk. Using Google, we searched for this exact quote being attributed to Swift and found only social media posts — none of which provided links to credible news reports or video evidence showing she said this. 

We contacted Swift’s spokesperson and received no response before publication. 

Our searches for similar quotes were more fruitful, but they didn’t lead us back to Swift. 

A keyword search turned up a video of a "BBC Breakfast" interview with Sander van der Linden, a social psychology in society professor at the University of Cambridge.

In that August interview about misinformation in the U.K., van der Linden said this: "I’ve said before that Elon might be radicalizing himself on his own platform in the sense that he’s become a victim of his own algorithm and that what he’s being fed is low-quality information, which he then engages with and then produces more of it because he starts to believe it." 

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Facebook posts

stated on November 19, 2024 in a Facebook post

Says Elon Musk said, “The $299 Tesla phone will be the end of the iPhone.”

Van der Linden also shared the idea in other places. 

In The Independent Aug. 6, van der Linden said Musk may be "radicalising himself on his own platform." He was quoted in the Business Insider the same day saying, "Musk is surrounding himself with low-quality information; he’s liking and engaging with it so he sees more of it. It’s almost like he’s not realized he’s radicalizing himself on his own platform." 

Similarly, in an Aug. 8 article for The Independent, an online British newspaper, van der Linden wrote that Musk’s spending increasing amounts of time on X might explain his vocal shift toward the political right.

"He’s liking, engaging, and amplifying low-quality content, which leads to more recommendations of similar content, reinforcing his own views and opinions," van der Linden wrote. "In short, he’s created his very own echo chamber. It’s almost as if he’s not realising that he’s radicalising himself on his own platform."

We contacted van der Linden, and he said he was the source of the Musk quote. 

"The quote about Elon Musk is indeed mine and I’m not aware of Taylor Swift making the same statement, though I would welcome her opinion on the topic," he said. 

Misinformation about both Musk and Swift have increased in recent months as both figures waded into politics during the 2024 presidential election. 

Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, after the Sept. 10 presidential debate between Harris and President-elect Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.  

Musk endorsed Trump in July after a gunman tried to assassinate the former president in Butler, Pennsylvania. Musk became a vocal Trump proponent who was increasingly involved with campaigning, appearing at Trump events and donating millions of dollars to a pro-Trump political action committee. After Trump’s win, the president-elect tapped Musk and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new Department of Government Efficiency, which he said will aim to slash spending and regulations.

We rate claims that Swift said Musk was the first person "to be radicalized by his own algorithm" False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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