“Elon Musk surprises the world with Ford acquisition.”

Has Elon Musk added the iconic car maker Ford Motor Co. to the list of companies he owns? 

“Elon Musk surprises the world with Ford acquisition,” several Facebook posts said. “In an unexpected move, Elon Musk has announced the acquisition of the iconic Ford automotive brand, marking a milestone in the automotive industry.” The posts feature an image of Ford CEO Jim Farley and Tesla CEO Musk, shaking hands with the Ford company logo behind them.

We found similar claims on Instagram and X.

The Facebook 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, Threads and Instagram.)

We fact-checked a similar claim in Spanish and Ian Thibodeau, a Ford Motor Co. spokesperson, told PolitiFact for that story that “this viral post is completely false.” 

We also found no announcement on Ford’s website or social media accounts announcing a Musk acquisition. No such announcement on Musk’s X account either, where he frequently shares news about his companies.

As for the image included with the claim of Musk and Farley shaking hands, Siwei Lyu, a University of Buffalo expert in digital media forensics, told PolitiFact it is fabricated.

“This image is clearly AI-created — as Musk’s right hand has six fingers! It is likely created from the recent AI generation models,” Lyu said.

The claim likely originated from a Sept. 16 YouTube video on a channel called Elon Musk Rewind. The account’s description says its videos contain unverified information and “should not be taken as endorsed facts.”

We rate the claim that Musk bought Ford False.

PolitiFact Staff Writer Maria Briceño contributed to this report.