On Feb. 14, 2024, a post attributed to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – better known as AOC – on X (formerly Twitter) went viral in which she appeared to say: "We should just print the 34 trillion dollars and pay off our national debt." The post received more than 263,600 views and 4,900 likes, as of this writing. "These are the people in charge folks," one user replied.
We should just print the 34 trillion dollars and pay off our national debt.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Press Release (parody) (@AOCpressTwo) February 14, 2024
What some users may not have realized was that the account is a labeled parody account posing as the politician. Her real X account can be seen here. Besides the handle of the parody account specifying this – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Press Release (parody) – Ocasio-Cortez herself addressed the fact that this particular account is fake in May 2023.
FYI there's a fake account on here impersonating me and going viral. The Twitter CEO has engaged it, boosting visibility.
It is releasing false policy statements and gaining spread.
I am assessing with my team how to move forward. In the meantime, be careful of what you see.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 30, 2023
Elon Musk, the CEO of X at the time, did reply with a "fire" emoji to a post by the parody account in which Ocasio-Cortez appeared to say: "This might be the wine talking, but I've got a crush on @elonmusk." The original tweet is no longer available on the parody account, but our newsroom captured the exchange for another story pertaining to the same account in May 2023. Musk's account is the only one the parody account follows, as of this writing.
(@elonmusk/Twitter)
We've previously reported on other rumors involving Ocasio-Cortez, such as that she became a multi-millionaire after serving four years in Congress and that she said "you're a white supremacist" if you watched Tucker Carlson's Putin interview.
For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.