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stated on May 6, 2024 a Facebook post:

This video shows BBC News reporting on the “tragic end of Elon Musk.”

Pants on Fire!
By Ciara O'Rourke
May 15, 2024

Altered video makes false claims about Elon Musk

If your time is short

  • This video was altered. Original footage of a BBC News broadcast and Elon Musk was edited to make it appear as though he and the news host were saying something they didn’t. 

See the sources for this fact-check

The five exclamation points utilized in a recent Facebook post signal big news, but there’s nothing to see here. 

“Shocked!” the May 6 post said. “No one wanted to see what happened to Elon Musk this morning!!”

A link in the post announced, “The tragic end of Elon Musk! The news this morning shocked the UK!”

And a video in the post appeared to show a BBC News report promising that “British residents no longer need to work” thanks to X owner Elon Musk.   

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

First, there’s no mention of Musk’s alleged “tragic end.” He is alive (and active on X). And his companies haven’t shuttered.

In the video, the BBC News host appears to explain that Musk’s purported new project will allow residents to earn passive income every day. It then cuts to a video of Musk who appears to expand on this supposed opportunity. 

But the video of Musk comes from a March 2023 appearance he made at the World Governments Summit — not a BBC News interview about a get-rich-quick scheme.

PolitiFact has fact-checked a similar claim before. In 2023, another altered BBC News report made it appear as though the host said British residents no longer needed to work thanks to Musk. 

That was false and so is this. We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

 
Our Sources

Facebook post, May 6, 2024

Elon Musk X account, visited May 15, 2024

YouTube, A Conversation with Elon Musk 2.0, March 3, 2023

PolitiFact, Don’t quit your jobs, Brits. Supposed BBC News video about Elon Musk project was altered, Aug. 11, 2023

 

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