White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro on Monday faced major public embarrassment after his attempt to rally support against X’s Community Notes backfired, with majority of users voting against his stand in an online poll.
The controversy began when one of Navarro’s X posts, consisting of anti-India claims, was flagged by Community Notes, a crowdsourced fact-checking feature.
The post accused India of profiteering from the Ukraine war by purchasing Russian oil. Community Notes appended a correction highlighting US hypocrisy in its own trade with Russia, including ongoing imports of Russian fertilizers and uranium.
An enraged Navarro slammed X Chairman Elon Musk, accusing him of allowing ‘propaganda’ into people’s posts and calling the platform’s fact-checking feature a “crap note”.
In response, Musk defended it, saying Community Notes is a system that corrects everyone without exceptions after weighing all sides of an argument.
“On X, the people decide the narrative,” Musk said without directly naming or addressing Navarro.
Unwilling to back down, Navarro launched a public poll on X, posing the question: “Should this platform allow foreign interests masquerading as objective observers to interfere with domestic U.S. economics and politics?”
He also shared the screenshot of his original post that was flagged by Community Notes.
“In an earlier post, you can see Indian special interests trying to interfere with domestic dialogue with lies about India buying Russian oil. Should X present this crap as comments from “diverse viewpoints”? he asked in the poll question.
To his utter surprise, a majority of respondents voted in favour of X’s community notes.
At the time of writing this news article, 77.3 per cent poeple responded ‘Yes’ to “diverse viewpoints” on the platform. Only 22.7 per cent respondents backed Navarro’s position, with 15.2 per cent voting “No” and 7.5 per cent choosing the more emphatic “Hell no. It’s obscene.”
What did Navarro say in his anti-India post?
Navarro alleged that India had begun purchasing Russian energy products after the Ukraine war started, claiming the revenue was helping to fund Russia’s military operations.
“India didn’t buy any (Russian oil) before the invasion. Now they’re buying it just to profiteer,” he claimed.
“The Indian government spin machine is in high gear. Stop killing Ukrainians. Stop taking American jobs.”
However, Community Notes countered his claims by highlighting the US double standards, stating that “While condemning others, the US still imports billions in Russian goods yearly, including fertilisers and uranium essential for its agriculture and energy sectors, revealing a clear double standard in its trade stance.”
Navarro again lashed out at the fact-checking feature, reiterating his claims, “That crap note below is just that. Crap,” he said, repeating his allegations that India buys Russia oil solely to profiteer.
“It didn’t buy any before Russia invaded Ukraine. Indian govt spin machine moving high tilt. Stop killing Ukrainians. Stop taking American jobs,” he added.