Elon Musk Boosts New Yorker's Sam Altman Exposé on X as OpenAI Trial Begins

In a move that blurs the line between news amplification and litigation strategy, Elon Musk used his ownership of X to financially boost a New Yorker investigation into Sam Altman's allegedly deceptive behavior—the same day his federal lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman kicked off in Oakland. WIRED confirmed that Musk paid for additional visibility on an April 6 post by investigative journalist Ronan Farrow, one of the article's coauthors, which appeared with a pop-up identifying it as boosted by @elonmusk on the platform's mobile app. Musk then reposted the story himself with commentary calling Altman "'Scam' Altman," writing that the investigation "is very much worth reading."

The timing is hardly coincidental. Musk's lawsuit alleges that OpenAI and Altman have betrayed the company's founding nonprofit mission to benefit humanity, straying into commercial interests. Musk was an OpenAI cofounder who invested tens of millions in its early days and argues his money was misused. OpenAI's defense counters that Musk always knew the nonprofit would need to become a large business to achieve its goals. The trial began Monday with jury selection, with several potential jurors already expressing skepticism toward both Musk and AI generally.

There's a technical compliance question lurking here: the boosted post didn't include an "ad" label in users' feeds, though clicking into post options revealed "report ad" as a choice. X's own FAQ states that "boosted posts must also self-identify as an advertisement and comply with X's ad policies"—a requirement that appears to have been sidestepped. Neither X nor OpenAI immediately responded to WIRED's request for comment, and The New Yorker declined to discuss the boost. The move exemplifies how platform ownership can be weaponized to shape public opinion during high-stakes legal battles, transforming editorial content into a litigation tool with algorithmic amplification.