Anti-Elon Musk poster falsely linked to USAID

"Holy sh*t this is a real USAID graphic spotted in Washington DC," says a February 12, 2025 X post from an account AFP has previously fact-checked.

The post accumulated thousands of interactions and the same image circulated elsewhere on X, Facebook, Instagram and Reddit.

Image

Screenshot from X taken February 14, 2025

USAID provides millions of dollars of aid in areas ranging from governance to food and health care. Nearly all its roughly 10,000 employees are currently on leave as the Trump administration plans to shutter the agency and fold its operations into the Department of State.

On February 14, a federal district court judge temporarily lifted the funding freeze and barred the administration from suspending or terminating additional employees.

Two days earlier, Republican US Senator Thom Tillis posted a video on X in front of the poster, saying he did not know if the government allowed the ad to go up and that it was "hopefully" only using the USAID logo (archived here).

The advertising panel in the image contains the logo for Capital Bikeshare, a bicycle-sharing program run by the District of Columbia Department of Transportation and other neighboring local governments. Tillis said the advertisement was put up near 400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW. 

AFP visited the nearest Capital Bikeshare station to that address, which is located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, NW and 5th Street and found that by 1600 GMT on February 13, both the poster and the advertising box had been removed.

AFP confirmed the location by comparing the apartment buildings seen behind the station to those visible in the background of the Tillis' video.

Image

Screenshot from X taken February 14, 2025 with elements highlighted by AFP

Image

Capital Bikeshare station at Massachusetts Avenue, NW and 5th Street taken at 1608 GMT on February 13, 2025, with elements highlighted by AFP (AFP / Daniel Patrick GALGANO)

The District's Department of Transportation also said it removed the panel at that location.

"The image located at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue NW and 5th Street was not created, funded or authorized by the DC government, and our team has promptly removed the illegally installed poster and the ad panel. We are asking the public to report any additional images like this to 311," a spokesperson said in a February 14 email.

Satirical artwork

The poster circulating online looks similar to works by New York-based artist Winston Tseng, who frequently, unlawfully places posters that include the logos of government agencies to criticize conservative figures in public spaces.

Contacted by AFP, Tseng confirmed he had designed the artwork and said he made it to satirize the political environment in the United States.

"The title of this is 'From the American people,' the official slogan of USAID and a parody of the 'eliminate' language used by Elon Musk to destroy USAID," he said in a February 13 instant message.

Tseng later shared an image of the poster and Tillis's video on his personal Instagram page, taking credit for the sign (archived here and here).

USAID referred a request for comment to the US Department of State, but no response was forthcoming.

AFP has debunked other false claims related to USAID funding.