Elon Musk says he plans to go after far-left activists who target him online, singling out a former volunteer video editor for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign who once called the Tesla and SpaceX chief a “valid military target.” The threat, posted to X on Monday, has thrust 28-year-old content creator Eric Hovagim — who now lives in Shanghai, China — into a national spotlight over his campaign ties, his online rhetoric, and his current career producing pro-Beijing commentary.
According to the New York Post, Hovagim volunteered to film and edit three videos for Mamdani's Democratic primary campaign in 2025, work he says he completed before the June 2025 primary and for which he says he received no payment from the campaign, any PAC, or anyone associated with Mamdani. Hovagim told the outlet his dealings were limited to the campaign's video team, and Mamdani's campaign has publicly disputed his account of his involvement, though the specifics of that dispute were not detailed. The three videos in question, which reportedly praised Mamdani's social media strategy and affordability agenda, were not identified by the Free Press or the Daily Caller, per the Post's reporting.
A March Post Sparked by a Drone in Iraq
Hovagim's “valid military target” comment, posted March 3, wasn't made in a vacuum. According to Deltia's Gaming, the remark came in response to reports that an American military drone equipped with Starlink satellite technology had been discovered in Iraq — tying Musk's SpaceX-run satellite network to overseas defense operations in Hovagim's framing. After Musk fired back on X, the same outlet reports Hovagim escalated by posting photos claiming to show him inside Tesla's battery factory in Shanghai, mocking Musk for manufacturing in China while publicly opposing left-wing politics.
Musk's own post, published August 3, read in part: “If they come after me, I will come after them and finish the job.” The comment came in direct response to a post about a Free Press investigation into Hovagim, and it was venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale who put that investigation in front of Musk's audience in the first place. Lonsdale, a Palantir co-founder, shared the Free Press story with more than 1 million followers, writing that many on the far left are “this radical” and asking how such views could be exposed to a mainstream audience, according to Ground News.
From Sports Betting Startup to Green New Deal Think Tank
Hovagim's career path before he became an online political creator was, by most accounts, conventional Silicon Valley fare. He studied industrial engineering and operations research at UC Berkeley, according to the Post, and co-founded an online sports betting startup called Better, later known as Pogbet. Corporate records reviewed by the Free Press, cited by a discussion on Reddit, show Hovagim served as CEO and founder of the Los Angeles-based startup until its 2023 shutdown, after which he worked as a senior project manager for New Consensus, a progressive think tank that developed Green New Deal policy proposals. The Honest Drink podcast described him last month as an industrial engineer turned political commentator, and the Post notes he now produces political videos, geopolitical commentary and travel documentaries as an independent videographer.
Rhetoric That Predates the Musk Feud
The Musk exchange is not the only inflammatory rhetoric attributed to Hovagim. Per the same Reddit discussion of the Free Press reporting, his online posts have described the Manhattan street where UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed in December 2024 as “hallowed ground” and referred to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as a “human shield.” The Post separately reports that Hovagim has likened America to the “Fourth Reich” and allegedly said the United States and Israel are run by “Zionist pedophiles.”
Hovagim has also produced content that appears to favor China's Communist government since relocating to Shanghai in late 2025. According to China Focus, he uploaded videos in February asserting that reports of human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang amount to “CIA propaganda,” following a December 2025 trip to the region. Independent human rights organizations and the United Nations have documented extensive state detention and forced labor practices there, a body of documentation his commentary rejects, per China Focus's reporting. The Post similarly notes he reportedly dismissed the Uyghur allegations as CIA propaganda.
Ties to Hasan Piker's Cuba Documentary
Hovagim's political content work extends beyond Mamdani's campaign into the orbit of Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who the Post reports once said the United States “deserved” the September 11 terrorist attacks. Hovagim was credited as producer on Piker's 2026 Cuba documentary, according to the Post. Indiatimes reported that the film, titled “The American War Against Cuba,” was co-produced with Hovagim following a March 2026 aid trip that later drew scrutiny from the U.S. State Department and Treasury Department over potential sanctions violations.
Mamdani, a Democratic assemblymember at the time of his campaign, went on to win the November 2025 New York City mayoral election with 50.8% of the general election vote, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa after upsetting Cuomo in the June primary, according to official election records reviewed on Wikipedia. Mamdani has since taken office at Gracie Mansion and moved to overhaul the city's migrant shelter system, actions Hoodline has previously reported on in detail.
What the Threat Statute Actually Requires
Musk's vow to “finish the job” against people who come after him raises the question of whether such statements could carry legal consequences. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 875(c), per the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, prohibits transmitting any communication in interstate or foreign commerce that contains a threat to injure another person, carrying penalties of up to five years in federal prison.
But prosecuting online statements as criminal threats faces a high bar. In the 2015 case Elonis v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a conviction under that statute requires proving the defendant had a subjective intent to threaten, rather than relying on a reasonable-person negligence standard, according to Oyez. That precedent sets a demanding threshold for treating heated online commentary — from either side of the Musk-Hovagim exchange — as unprotected speech rather than hyperbole.
The Post reports it sought comment from Hovagim, Mamdani and Piker, though the article does not indicate whether any of them responded. The dispute unfolds against a broader backdrop of scrutiny facing Musk's business empire, including a separate fight over his Colossus supercomputer project that Hoodline has covered previously.
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