Elon Musk is once again taking aim at previous government administrations, but this time, he's not firing shots at Joe Biden.
Although the world's richest man isn't officially a politician, his designation as a 'special government employee' has seen him get comfy at the White House.
Musk is currently lauding it over things as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and with it, he's trying to slash some $2 trillion from federal spending.
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While there are continued questions about the legal and ethical ramifications of Elon Musk's new regime, that hasn't stopped him from laying out his grand plans to 'Make America Great Again'.
During a conversation between Joe Rogan and Mike Benz, the former Department of State staffer and current Executive Director of the Foundation For Freedom Online claimed that Barack Obama repealed the Smith-Mundt Act.
The Smith-Mundt Act was introduced by Congressman Karl E. Mundt in 1945 and eventually signed into law by President Harry S. Truman in 1948. It was designed to regulate broadcasting for foreign audiences by ensuring Americans weren't able to receive programming from the State Department.
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Sharing Benz's complaints, Musk wrote: "Restore the Smith-Mundt act!"
In reality, the Smith-Mundt Act was amended under Obama via 2012's Smith–Mundt Modernization Act. This made materials that were produced by the State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) available to those in the USA.
The comments were quickly filled with those incorrectly claiming Obama struck the act, with one Musk supporter writing: "Restoring the Smith-Mundt Act could definitely help keep things transparent in government communications! We need a balance between information and propaganda."
Another cheered: "The door for corruption must be shut if we are to continue to live in a free society."
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Still, there's the awkward situation where someone shared a passage from Musk's own Grok that reiterates the Smith-Mundt Act was amended instead of repealed. It comes after Grok claimed that Musk is the biggest spreader of disinformation online.
This narrative is nothing new, with an October 2024 Facebook post showing Obama signing a bill in the Oval Office, accompanied by a caption that read: "This why you got fake news, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CNBC, NBC, CBS, propaganda machines for the Democratic party."
The post was later fact-checked and slapped with a 'false' banner. That didn't stop Musk from previously sharing the same meme.
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Back then, Musk's post was hit with a community note that said: "The Smith-Mundt Act has not been repealed. The Act was amended in 2012/13 to allow US-sponsored foreign media to be made available 'on request'. Prior to 2012, this information could not be distributed in the US, despite being available online."
Fact-checkers maintain that the law still bans the government from creating programming that could be construed as swaying the public opinion of Americans.
While Musk might've been repeatedly called out on his knowledge of the Smith-Mundt Act, it's clear he wants it to change.