A post on X claims that Maye Musk, the mother of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, told Fox News that “the poor should have kids, so [Elon’s] factories have workers!”

“The poor should have kids, so my son’s factories have workers!” – Musk’s mom, saying the quiet part out loud on Fox News pic.twitter.com/qOPTc1YBTs

— Geo_Graffiti (@Geo_Graffitti) December 16, 2024

Verdict: False

She did not actually say this. Musk was talking about birth rates declining.

Fact Check:

President-elect Donald Trump publicly supported Elon Musk’s stance on H1-B visas, stating that it was a “great program,” according to The New York Times. In addition, the former president boasted about having “many H-1B visas on [his] properties,” the outlet reported.

A post on X claims Maye Musk encouraged those that were not wealthy to have children. The post quotes her has saying “the poor should have kids, so my son’s factories have workers.”

The claim is incorrect. Maye Musk was a guest on Fox News recently where she spoke about the value of having children. Lamenting the recent trend of younger families delaying having kids thanks to financial difficulties, she reminded viewers that “children add value to your life.”

The topic of declining birth rates has been something that her son has been shining a light on in recent years. Musk has stated that population collapse is a major issue for many countries going forward, and that decreasing fertility rates will lead to “mass extinction of entire nations.”

Maye Musk was not doing an interview to promote parenting. She was speaking to host Rachel Campos-Duffy about her new book as well as giving credit to any Democrats that might support her son’s DOGE initiative, a non-partisan program designed to cut wasteful government spending. A Google search for any sort of genuine quote from Maye Musk about any of her son’s factories turned up empty.

This story was first fact checked by Snopes.