The repost, later deleted by Musk, said: "Stalin, Mao, and Hitler didn’t murder millions of people. Their public sector employees did.”

Musk and Tesla have faced heightened criticism since the billionaire made a gesture likened to a Nazi salute during an inaugural event in January.

The post falsely claimed that Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong were not responsible for the murders of millions of people, but rather public sector workers were.