Elon Musk has been facing flak from social media users after amplifying a racist post dismissing Indian history. Although the Tesla CEO didn’t say a word while responding to the post on Twitter – the platform he bought for $44 billion in October 2022 and rebranded as X – he simply reacted with an emoji. 

But before looking at Musk’s emoji reaction and the backlash that followed, here’s what the original post said.

‘There is no such thing as colonisation’

Shared on October 2, the post claimed that the concept of “colonisation” did not exist, suggesting instead that Britons who came to India were essentially “Indians”.

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“If Indians set foot in England and become English. Then the English who set foot in India became Indian. Therefore, the English did not rule India,” the post said. 

It added, “There is no such thing as ‘colonisation’.” For context, the UK ruled over India for approximately 190 years, from the Battle of Plassey in 1757 until India’s independence in 1947. 

The post also has a picture that shows Indians and Britons together, with a few roosters in the frame. 

Elon Musk’s reaction triggered many

Elon Musk reacted to this post with a thinking face emoticon. The post, which might have otherwise received little attention, went viral and has now been viewed over 17.9 million times.

Reacting to his post, author Sahana Singh said, “Disappointed with Elon Musk for amplifying such an incorrect comparison.”

“Have the Indians in England stolen trillions of dollars worth of British resources or caused famines by diverting British foodgrains to soldiers fighting their wars? Have they destroyed Britain’s indigenous education?” she expressed, before adding, “It is painful to see a high-IQ person like Elon falling for this crap.”

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“By this logic. When the Germans set foot in France in 1940, they became French. Thus French occupied France. Similarly,  Americans became Afghan and Iraqi in 2003. And now, the Russian troops occupying Ukraine are Ukrainians. There’s no need for them to go back,” another person said. 

A third commented, “You and your dumb logic. True QED will be when Indians in the UK loot Trillions of the UK’s wealth and send it to India, take over power in the UK, enslave the population and starve millions to death like Churchill did.”

“A thief broke into my house last night. He’s our newest family member now,” joked yet another Indian.