A recent Threads post purports to show a billboard in New York’s Times Square with a message from X owner Elon Musk: “Go to my crypto project BEDXERS.COM Enter my promo code 31muskxx Take 0.31 BTC.”

“I saw this billboard on the street today, thanks Elon Musk,” the Sept. 30 post said.

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, Instagram and Threads.)

We identified the billboard’s location from the street signs visible in the image. The company that manages the billboard didn’t immediately respond to PolitiFact’s questions about the post’s authenticity. 

But we found no evidence that Musk ever posted this on X. The post’s image has a different X user photo than Musk’s user photo, and the post also doesn’t appear on his account. Searching more broadly online for evidence that Musk said this, we found only social media posts such as this Threads post and a YouTube video titled, “Free bitcoin promo code scam explained.” 

In short, the video caption says that when users visit websites such as the one in the fabricated X post to claim free bitcoin, they’re required to send about $132 worth of bitcoin to activate their accounts. Then, they can purportedly claim the promised bitcoin.

PolitiFact has fact-checked multiple posts claiming to show Musk talking or posting about a cryptocurrency venture. They’re fake, and so is this. 

We rate claims Musk posted this cryptocurrency message on X False.