No, AOC Didn't Say 'Printing Money Is the Only Way Out of Inflation'

Claim:

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, "Printing money is the only way out of inflation."

Rating:

Labeled Satire

About this rating

In late May 2023, Twitter users began sharing a tweet attributed to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) in which she allegedly said, "Printing money is the only way out of inflation": 

What many of the people who encountered this tweet didn't realize, however, was that the tweet wasn't genuine. It came from the @AOCpress Twitter account, the profile of which contains a "parody" disclaimer: 

Despite the label, some people were apparently fooled by the tweet and responded as if it were authentic. A similar fake tweet from the same account alleging that AOC wrote "Farming should be illegal" circulated around the same time. 

In a May 30 tweet from her official account, Ocasio-Cortez informed the public that the parody account was "impersonating" her and "releasing false policy statements," and noted that Twitter owner Elon Musk "has engaged it, boosting its visibility": 

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

This is the @AOCpress tweet that Musk engaged with: 

Snopes has debunked many fake AOC tweets in the past. One fabricated screenshot that circulated during the COVID-19 pandemic, claimed that Ocasio-Cortez urged that businesses be kept closed until after the 2020 election. In another, she allegedly called for Democrats to commence with "The Purge" (a reference to the 2013 horror film) after U.S. President Joe Biden was elected.

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.