Elon Musk

Claim: Heather Swanson, a transgender cartoon character from the South Park animated series, is comparable to real-life Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. Fact: There is no connection between the cartoon character and real-life events surrounding Imane Khelif. Some publications called out the show for its transphobic content in 2019 for the episode in which a transgender […]

Claim: Elon Musk has acquired Stanford University. Fact: Elon Musk has not acquired Stanford University at all; the claim originates from a satirical article published in the student-run newspaper The Stanford Daily. On 5 September 2024, Facebook user ‘Tam M Pham’ posted (archive) a screenshot of an article with the headline, “Elon Musk acquires the […]

Claim: X is making users’ bookmarked posts visible to the public. Fact: Bookmarks remain private and only viewable to the user themselves, according to X’s Help Centre. There are no verifiable reports of the platform making such an announcement. On 7 July 2024, user @DropPopNet alleged (archive) that X, the social media platform formerly known […]

Claim: In an X post, Elon Musk said, “Democracy is under attack in Pakistan.” Fact: The X post was made by @ElonMuskVines, a parody account pretending to be the social media platform’s owner. The user has been consistently posting about Pakistan and Imran Khan, which the real Elon Musk has never done. On 23 April […]

Claim: News outlets reported that Twitter fired a man 24 hours after hiring him. Fact: The reports were based on tweets by @SaeedDiCaprio, who posted them as an elaborate joke. On 10 February 2023, four Nigerian news outlets published a news story titled, “Elon Musk allegedly fires man from Twitter 24 hours after hiring him.” […]

Claim: A social media post claim that Elon Musk will appoint Donald Trump Jr as Twitter’s new CEO. Fact: The claim is not true. Blogger Jeff Charles posted a satire piece that people mistook as authentic news. On 20 December 2022, Facebook user DG Jenkins claimed in a post that “Elon Musk to Appoint Donald […]

Claim: A screenshot circulating online shows a tweet from Elon Musk stating that Imran Khan has the largest number of fake followers on Twitter. The screenshot also shows a fake follower audit claiming that Imran Khan has 60.8% fake followers.  Fact: The screenshot is false, Musk did not tweet any such claim.  A screenshot of […]

Claim: Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted his support for Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, praised his character, and that he was “surprised” to see the crowd at the Haqeeqi Azadi March. Fact: The tweet is doctored. Elon Musk did not voice his support for Imran Khan, nor did he mention the Haqeeqi Azadi March in […]

Claim: A photo apparently shows Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites visible in the sky from Pakistan. Fact: The image is, in fact, two years old and has no link to Pakistan. It was taken as a screenshot from a video posted by a Kosovo-based software developer. On 8 September 2022, Facebook user Umar Farooq posted in […]