Musk could use the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ for self-enrichment

Question

Elon Musk, named by Donald Trump to co-lead a commission aimed at reducing the size of the federal government, is poised to undermine funding for rural broadband services to benefit his satellite internet services company, Starlink.

Answer 1

This claim appears to be true. The article is only suggesting a possible motivation that could lead to these changes being implemented under Musk's new role, not claiming that he will do these things. It does seem to use good methods and sources in making this claim, and this story seems to be solid.

Comments

You do a good job of vetting the original post and its source, and also stating that these are only possible futures for Musk's involvement in DGE, not pure facts. I think this comment could benefit from an added source that corroborates what the original source claims, however. I think that would add to the validity of your decision of truth.

Answer 2

This claim is true to a certain degree. To begin with, the author of the article, George Chidi, is a legitimate writer for the Guardian and has written for them for over a year. In addition, the source is from The Guardian, which leans left-center but is mixed on factual reporting. However, in this article, there were multiple links to sources, in all of the claims the author makes in the article.

The claim that Elon Musk could use his new department for self-gain is factual. I found another Newsweek article that also brought up the former Federal Communication Communication Direction Blair Levin. This article also backs up the claim that Elon Musk stands to benefit from his new role in the forthcoming Trump administration. Elon Musk is a big critic of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (Bead) Program, and if the Trump administration guts that program he stands to benefit from it. 

To conclude the claim is true, however, it should be pointed out that right is a hypothetical situation that could occur. There is no evidence right now that Elon Musk is using his new department because Trump has not been inaugurated yet.

Links

George Chidi  Linkedin

The Guardian Bias 

Newsweek

Elon Musk's Tweet