‘Incredibly disturbing thread,’ Elon Musk responds to undercover probe into trans healthcare providers

AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley

Twitter mogul Elon Musk expressed alarm over the findings of an undercover operation by Daily Wire host Matt Walsh into U.S. transgender health-care providers, engaging with Walsh's Twitter thread twice on Wednesday.

The investigation, led by Walsh, raised troubling allegations about Plume and Folx, two leading transgender health care providers in the U.S. The probe suggested that these organizations might be hastily green-lighting drastic sex-change surgeries, possibly distorting patients' health data to secure insurance coverage for the procedures.

Incredibly disturbing thread

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 8, 2023

As part of the investigation, one of Walsh's producers received approval for an orchiectomy (a procedure to remove the testicles) following a mere 22-minute virtual consultation with Plume, currently the country's largest transgender health-care provider. This startling revelation prompted Musk to comment, labeling the thread as an "Incredibly disturbing" and branding the findings as "Insane!!"

In the course of the investigation, Walsh's producer Gregg Re managed to secure a video consultation with Plume, merely by submitting a pseudonym on an intake form. Despite clarifying that he hadn't been grappling with gender dysphoria for more than six months, mispronouncing the name of the desired surgery, and admitting ignorance about the surgery's potential consequences, Plume's nurse practitioner committed to drafting the most "solid" letter to support the surgery, according to Walsh.

Only three days post consultation, Plume dispatched a letter to Re, posing as "Chelsea Bussey", diagnosing Re with "significant, ongoing gender dysphoria" – a claim Re had categorically denied – and endorsing "Chelsea" for testicle removal. Walsh revealed that Plume had communicated to Re via text that the recommendation letters are drafted using a template, following the guidelines laid out by the controversial World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Plume allegedly sells these recommendation letters for $150 to individuals pursuing transgender surgeries.

This isn't the first time Musk has taken interest in Walsh's work spotlighting the potential risks associated with sex-change procedures. Only last week, Musk retweeted Walsh's pioneering documentary "What is a Woman?" to his staggering following of 140 million, after his own platform had scrapped a deal to stream it.