Elon Musk shut down by California governor Gavin Newsom as he fact-checks LA fires claim

Elon Musk is continuing to annoy numerous politicians around the world with his interventions, as California governor Gavin Newsom is the latest to clap back at the Twitter/X owner and tech billionaire following his criticism of the official’s handling of the LA wildfires.

It came after Musk shared a video posted from another Twitter/X account on Saturday (January 11) in which Newsom is seen stating there is a “zero tolerance for looting” in the wake of the disaster.

The poster asserted that “Newsom and California Democrats literally decriminalised looting” by “baring [sic] police from arresting and prosecutors from prosecuting them”, and Musk reposted by adding a clown and world emoji.

Newsom soon shut down Musk’s support for the claims by calling on the billionaire to “stop encouraging looting” by “lying and telling people it’s decriminalised”.

“It’s not. It’s illegal – as it always has been. Bad actors will be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.

Both proposed Community Notes on Newsom’s tweet and several responses cite California’s Proposition 47 from 2014, which reclassified the felony of shoplifting as a misdemeanour (a less serious crime) where the goods stolen total less than $950 (£778), as 'evidence' of looting’s ‘decriminalisation’.

That’s despite many dictionaries defining decriminalisation as no longer deeming a certain action to be illegal, and a misdemeanour still being considered a crime.

In November 2024, the adoption of Proposition 36 following a public vote meant shoplifting became a felony again for repeat offenders.

Hours after responding to Musk, Newsom announced the launch of a webpage titled ‘California Fire Facts’ to “ensure the public has access to fact-based data” around the wildfires in southern California.

“The TRUTH: CA did not cut our firefighting budget. We have nearly doubled the size of our firefighting army and built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet.

“CA has INCREASED forest management ten-fold since we took office. California will NOT allow for looting,” he wrote.

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