Elon Musk spends a lot of his time reposting and replying to social media posts on X, usually with single phrase feedback like “wow,” “reality” or “fascinating.”
Musk’s clout as the owner of X and its most influential consumer implies that the posts he interacts with have a tendency to realize widespread consideration, usually reaching at the least one million views.
One account stands out — run by Australian crypto entrepreneur Mario Nawfal. NPR’s evaluate of Musk’s X timeline exhibits that Musk interacted with Nawfal’s account over 1,200 occasions between August 2024 and early April 2025.
Though it is a small fraction of all of Musk’s actions on X, the 2 work together on a near-daily foundation, far outstripping different widespread accounts Musk reposts and replies to.
Highly effective folks, together with overseas leaders, appear to be taking word. Since Jan. 20, when Musk grow to be an advisor to President Trump, Nawfal has posted lengthy interviews on YouTube with 5 prime ministers and presidents, in addition to the Russian overseas minister.
“A spread of political actors clearly see Nawfal not solely as a helpful amplifier, but additionally as a direct bridge to Elon Musk and the White Home,” mentioned Emerson Brooking, a researcher on the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Analysis Lab. “If Nawfal is sharing a narrative, there is a good likelihood that U.S. policymakers are studying it — and appearing on it.”
Nawfal says he needs to make use of his entry to world leaders to bridge divides. “There’s simply so many extra similarities between Moscow and New York or between Beijing and London,” he informed NPR in an interview. Nawfal additionally mentioned he hopes the publicity will carry extra offers to his firm.
Generally, Nawfal’s posts soar by way of Musk into President Trump’s feed. In February, Nawfal repeated a false declare in a week-old post accusing the information outlet Reuters of partaking in “giant scale social deception”. The submit refers to a Protection Division contract involving a special firm that shares a father or mother with Reuters — not the information company. Musk reposted it inside minutes after which President Trump repeated the false declare the following day.
“Nawfal is the prime instance of stories brokering,” mentioned Mert Can Bayar, a postdoctoral researcher at College of Washington. Bayar has studied the rise of a brand new era of news-focused influencers on X since Musk purchased the platform in 2022, who’re taking each content material and limelight from newsrooms throughout main breaking information occasions.
X and Musk didn’t reply to requests for remark for this story.
Rising in occasions of disaster
Earlier than turning into a information influencer on X, Nawfal launched a crypto incubator, which he nonetheless runs, and hosted exhibits targeted on the ups and downs of the crypto world.
Nawfal and Musk seem to have first crossed paths publicly in November 2022, when Musk joined an X reside audio speak — known as an X Area — Nawfal was internet hosting in regards to the collapse of cryptocurrency alternate FTX. With Musk’s look and Nawfal’s heavy promotion, Nawfal’s follower rely swelled by tens of hundreds.
Nawfal mentioned he first observed the facility of speaking about information on X when he hosted an audio speak about a missile explosion in Poland close to the Ukrainian border on the finish of 2022. “All of a sudden quite a lot of non-crypto folks got here in and began listening. And that is after I realized that, hey, this has much more potential past simply crypto,” he mentioned.
Nawfal mentioned he now has a group that writes over 100 posts on X a day and works across the clock.
When Nawfal posted about Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s coup try in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the summertime of 2023, Musk posted: “Finest protection of the state of affairs I’ve seen to this point is from Mario” and promoted Nawfal’s X Area on the subject. Nawfal’s following grew by over 300,000 in a single day — an over 50% enhance in his follower rely on the time.
Within the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on Israel in Oct. 7, 2023, the six information organizations who gained essentially the most site visitors on X nonetheless had fewer combined views than Nawfal alone, and Nawfal wasn’t even the highest influencer on the time, mentioned Bayar, the UW researcher.
“It is a paradise for [the news brokers] as a result of they do not do any screening,” Bayar mentioned. “To allow them to tweet quite a lot of issues in 10 minutes.”
Nawfal mentioned it is not his group’s job to vet posts for accuracy. “Do we all know if there’s actual tunnels beneath a sure hospital? Do we all know if the troopers are within the hospital? How the hell can I do know? It is unattainable to know. Even when I had a reporter on the bottom, they most likely would not have the ability to discover out the reality,” he informed NPR. “So the best way we would be able to resolve the reality is like, let’s have a look at what either side are saying.”
Israel has principally barred reporters from Gaza since its battle there.
‘Taking a stance’ on U.S. politics
Because the U.S. presidential election heated up in 2024, Nawfal interviewed distinguished conservatives, including individuals who have gone on to hitch the present Trump administration, corresponding to Federal Communications Fee chair Brendan Carr in August, Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr in September. A lot of them, like Musk, allege that conservative voices have been unfairly censored by social media firms and different establishments.
“I was balanced on the whole lot, and now I’ve taken a couple of stances,” Nawfal mentioned. “Free speech is one. I’ve grow to be extra essential of the final administration and extra supportive of the Trump administration.”
After Musk took on a distinguished function as a White Home advisor to President Trump, he stored interacting with Nawfal on X.
About half of Nawfal’s posts that Musk’s interacted with within the interval NPR examined had been about Musk himself, his firms and his work on the White Home. The remainder repackaged information articles, news-focused X posts and generally supplied commentary.
Nawfal’s X account usually cites information organizations as sources, together with Vox, Politico, Fortune, Fox Information, The Guardian, the BBC and public radio stations. The account would not hyperlink to the underlying information tales, however does tag X accounts that are not information organizations listed as sources.
X’s algorithm downranks posts with hyperlinks, which means customers are much less more likely to see them of their feeds, Bayar mentioned. “Which is an issue for data literacy, digital media literacy, truth checking and knowledge credibility.”
Generally Nawfal’s writeup carries a special framing than the tales it seems to supply from. A submit that pointed at CNN and NPR as sources claimed that some federal staff “do not wish to work with out distant perks and desk naps.” However a evaluate of the organizations’ protection about Trump’s return-to-office order from the 2 shops didn’t point out distant perks or naps.
“The model of our information has form of shifted from being very bland to … turning into extra tongue in cheek and form of making it extra humorous,” Nawfal mentioned. “It has been enhancing retention.” NPR was not in a position to independently confirm Nawfal’s claims about efficiency.
Nawfal mentioned he couldn’t recall the particular submit about federal staff when NPR requested about it, however mentioned the nap reference was “fairly apparent to be humorous” and was “innocent”.
Worldwide leaders
In an interview with NPR, Nawfal didn’t recall interviewing any sitting heads of states earlier than Musk took up his function on the White Home —- though he did recall talking with two former ones.
Nawfal credit his entry to world leaders to his affect on X, but additionally to the best way he approaches his interviews.
“Media shops simply do not signify them the identical approach. Like, any media outlet wouldn’t signify President Xi Jinping the identical approach they might signify the chief of NATO, or the chief of France.”
Nawfal mentioned that he is been “very, very goal” with regards to geopolitics.
In his lengthy interviews with world leaders, together with the presidents of Kosovo, Serbia, Rwanda, Belarus and prime minister of Slovakia, Nawfal tends to not interrupt or push again in opposition to his friends’ claims. Many repeated frequent Kremlin speaking factors of their appearances.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko repeated claims that justified Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, whereas Russian overseas minister Sergey Lavrov questioned whether or not a bloodbath in Ukraine dedicated by Russian forces had really occurred.
Nawfal doesn’t solely speak to pro-Russia figures. President Vjosa Osmani of Kosovo introduced up Russia’s historical past of breaking peace agreements and expounded on how NATO and USAID has helped her nation.
Nawfal informed NPR he has an upcoming sequence specializing in Ukraine’s perspective in regards to the battle. “I visited among the destroyed houses, [and] additionally obtained on a movie tour of the Bucha bloodbath,” he mentioned. Nawfal mentioned on the time of interview with NPR {that a} trailer for the sequence would come out “in a couple of days”.
He additionally acknowledges that when he would not level out inaccuracies, his viewers would possibly take the content material as truth. “One factor that journalists do on the earth that is actually essential is that they push again when it’s a necessity. It is an artwork that I am for certain nonetheless attempting to excellent,” he mentioned.
Nawfal promotes the lengthy interviews by making quick clips and posting them with quotes onto X and YouTube. One follow-up clip to an interview with Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić was titled “Vucic Reveals Reality About Anti-Protestor Sonic Weapons”. A clip in regards to the interview with Belarus’s chief was titled “Lukashenko Reveals Reality About Ukraine Mineral Deal”.
Company apart from heads of states have additionally obtained the “reality” designation — Aleskandr Dugin, an excessive Russian nationalist who advocates for Russia’s enlargement; and influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who’re facing charges in Romania over accusations of human trafficking and forming a felony gang to sexually exploit ladies.
“[It’s] not our place to say what’s the reality and what’s not the reality,” Nawfal informed NPR when requested in regards to the video titles, promising to “have it mounted”.
He mentioned he observed it, too, when somebody in his group wrote the title. “After I had the dialogue with him, he was like, folks click on on it when it says ‘the reality’.”
The names of the movies had been unchanged on the time of this story’s publication. The embassies of Kosovo, Serbia, Rwanda, Belarus and Slovakia didn’t reply to NPR’s request for remark about how their leaders’ interviews with Nawfal took place.
‘Loyalty’ to X and Musk
Whereas Nawfal’s X account boasts 2.2 million followers and his bio claims he has the “Largest Present on X,” Nawfal’s interviews with world leaders solely get hundreds of views on YouTube. He mentioned that though he has a group working his YouTube account, he needs to be very “X unique”.
“I form of have that loyalty due to the help that has given me and in addition my dedication to free speech,” Nawfal mentioned.
Nawfal’s content material usually appears to answer Musk’s pursuits.
In February, Musk posted: “Anybody wish to create a hard-hitting present on X known as 69 Minutes? I’ll really fund it!” One month later, Nawfal put collectively a pilot for a present that mentioned present affairs. In one other nod to Musk’s sense of humor, it aired on a Sunday at 4:20pm.
“I feel he reposts the content material he agrees with and I simply attempt to carry as a lot worth to the platform as attainable,” Nawfal mentioned about Musk. “There’s this public communication, there’s nothing extra to it.”
Nawfal later adopted as much as say he had no feedback about his communications with Musk.
Nawfal mentioned that he is not asking Musk to fund “69 Minutes,” regardless of Musk’s provide to take action. Nor does he take sponsorship for his “political exhibits, he mentioned.” “Once you’re financially effectively off, you are in a greater place to not be influenced.”
However Nawfal mentioned he is not diverting assets from his incubator to make X content material without cost, both. “I perceive after I interview presidents, prime ministers, it brings quite a lot of eyes to my channel,” he mentioned. “That is high of the funnel — after which later you possibly can and that viewers may later take heed to your monetary present, your AI present.”
These exhibits have helped carry offers to his enterprise, Nawfal mentioned, though he “can’t talk about numbers as it’s kind of tough, for the reason that exhibits and media arm is a part of broader incubation providers we provide.”
Potential shoppers focused on collaborating with Nawfal’s media platforms can select from a spread of choices, together with visitor look, sponsorship and content material collaboration. Nawfal mentioned that they “solely settle for sponsorships for the crypto and AI exhibits.”
The website for Nawfal’s Worldwide Blockchain Consulting Group lists media as one in every of its choices.
“Harness the affect of the most important platform on X(Twitter) and different strategic property we have acquired to place ourselves because the foremost entity with the widest attain in Web3,” the positioning guarantees.
In late February, Nawfal posted an interview he gave on a Polish TV station. The thumbnail of the video mentioned, in daring all caps: “Elon Musk saved the world”.
