Fact Check: Did AOC Buy a Tesla?

Elon Musk's planned overhaul of Twitter's "blue check" verification plan, charging verified users $8 a month to use the feature, was mocked this week by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ocasio-Cortez joked that "free speech" seemingly had a subscription charge. Musk, who has taken control of Twitter in a $44 billion deal, responded to her with the claim: "Your feedback is appreciated, now pay $8."

It's not the first time that the congresswoman has taken aim at the SpaceX CEO, even though she appears to have been a fan of his other ventures.

The Claim

A Facebook post by commentator Dinesh D'Souza, posted on November 3, 2022, states: "I hear #aoc flatly refuses to pay #elonmusk $8 a month but she did buy a Tesla."

The post, which had more than 55,000 likes, includes a photo of what appears to be Ocasio-Cortez getting into a car with the Tesla logo.

The Facts

Musk and Ocasio-Cortez have butted heads on Twitter before.

In April 2022, after news first spread that Musk was planning to buy Twitter, AOC tweeted that she was "tired of having to collectively stress about what explosion of hate crimes is happening bc some billionaire with an ego problem unilaterally controls a massive communication platform and skews it because Tucker Carlson or Peter Thiel took him to dinner and made him feel special."

Musk later responded: "Stop hitting on me, I am really shy." She replied in a since-deleted tweet that she was talking about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

In spite of these reservations, the New York congresswoman has indeed stated that she owns a Tesla, although it seems she's been trying to ditch it for some time.

A Bloomberg article from May 2022 reported that she had purchased a Model 3 to travel between New York and Washington D.C.

According to Bloomberg, Ocasio-Cortez said: "At the time, it was the only EV that could get me from New York to Washington on like one, or one-and-a-half charges.

"I would love to switch."

The photo of Ocasio-Cortez posted by Dinesh D'Souza on Facebook was first published online earlier this year when she and Musk began feuding on Twitter.

An article in the New York Post, on Musk daring Ocasio-Cortez to ask if people trust billionaires or politicians more, included the photo, which was credited to a Post photographer.

It was taken in April 2021, when Ocasio-Cortez visited Astoria Park in Queens, New York City, for a talk about climate change.

Photos of what was alleged to be her Tesla parked illegally outside a Whole Foods in Washington D.C. were published online in May 2021, too.

It is not clear whether Ocasio-Cortez still has her Tesla.

The congresswoman later called "billionaire ownership of our news sources... a legitimate problem" and that "market concentration of media is a huge issue."

Newsweek has contacted Ocasio Cortez and Twitter for comment.

The Ruling

True.

Ocasio-Cortez has previously mentioned her purchase of a Tesla Model 3, photos of which confirm the claim.

The New York congresswoman has said that she planned to get rid of the car because, she claimed, it was "the only EV that could get me from New York to Washington on like one, or one-and-a-half charges."

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team