Elon Musk, the owner of X, has told a US court that he failed to verify a controversial claim he propagated on the microblogging platform last year.

Musk was grilled by Mark Bankston, counsel for allegedly defamed Ben Brody, on March 27 for his tendency to spread false information.

READ ALSO: How Content Creators Claimed Thousands of Dollars in Twitter’s New Monetisation Scheme

The content of the deposition, which included Musk’s words, were revealed on Monday after a judge ordered it to be made public.

After opposing groups had a physical clash in a gay pride event near Portland, Oregon, on June 24, 2023, random social media users tried to identify people from the available footage. They mistook Brody to be one of the brawlers when he was actually in Riverside, California.

Conspiracy theorists labelled Brody a US government agent posing as a neo-Nazi to implicate neo-Nazi groups. They referred to the situation as a false flag situation.

Musk reposted and added false comments about Brody.

When Bankston asked him if he secured other information about the unmasked brawler apart from what extremist accounts had shared, Musk said, “I don’t recall securing other information.”

“I wasn’t trying to assess their credibility…You know, like, once in a while, a conspiracy theorist is going to be right,” Musk told Bankston. He also said there’s “some risk that what I say is incorrect”.

READ ALSO: Twitter to Remove All Legacy Verification Badges Today. How Does This Affect Users?

On X, Musk had said about the clash: “Looks like one is a college student (who wants to join the govt) and another is maybe an Antifa member, but nonetheless a probable false flag situation.”

Musk refused to verify or delete the post after the claims against Brody were challenged.

Brody was a college graduate planning to go to law school. He said that he received messages based on the false accusations Musk helped to propagate. Brody said that he and his family felt unsafe in their home.

Musk said that he did not believe his posts harmed Brody. The defamation case against the billionaire is ongoing at a time when misinformation and disinformation are rife on X.