At first, Ellis thought it was an isolated claim—someone erroneously connected her to the crash, because just days earlier she had written an essay on being a transgender pilot from Virginia. “I was shocked and immediately concerned for the safety of my loved ones.”Virginia National Guard pilot Jo Ellis has filed a lawsuit against right-wing influencer Matt Wallace. Ann Vandersteel, a Qanon promoter with more than 360,000 X followers, also spread false information about Ellis in since-deleted posts. In a few cases, people asked X’s AI chatbot Grok, which also named Ellis as the pilot responsible for the crash, making people further believe this rumor. However, after Ellis released her proof-of-life video, Wallace updated his X posts saying the pilot is alive and was not responsible for the crash.