“Elon Musk urges a boycott of ABC Network: ‘Let’s take them down!’”

X owner Elon Musk didn’t urge people to boycott ABC, but a recent Facebook post sharing a fake headline out of context claims he did. 

“Elon Musk urges a boycott of ABC Network: ‘Let’s take them down!’” the Oct. 14 post said. The headline was posted to a Facebook page called Nation News Now. 

It 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.)

This claim originated on SpaceXMania, which posts what it describes as “the freshest fake news.”

The Sept. 15 headline said: “Elon Musk calls for boycott of ABC Network: ‘Let’s take ’em down!’”

It was published after ABC News hosted the Sept. 10 presidential debate in Philadelphia between Vice President Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democratic nominee, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. 

The SpaceXMania story said that Musk decided to “declare war on the media giant, calling for a nationwide boycott” after the debate left both candidates’ supporters “Fuming over the moderators’ handling.”

But one clue this article isn’t authentic? The ABC logo featured on both SpaceXMania’s website and in the Facebook post is not for ABC News but the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

We looked for but found no credible evidence, such as real news reporting or statements from Musk, that he called for an ABC boycott — here or in Australia. 

We rate this claim False.