Fabricated Twitter exchange between Trump and Elon Musk resurfaces

Fabricated Twitter exchange between Trump and Elon Musk resurfaces

(Reuters) Following Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter Inc, a years-old fabricated tweet attributed to the billionaire has resurfaced online.

The screenshots of the tweet circulating appear to show Musk’s verified account calling then U.S. President Donald Trump a “dumbass” in reply to a tweet by Trump referring to Space X Falcon Heavy launch on Feb. 6, 2018 (here ).

An archived version of Trump’s authentic tweet is viewable ( here). It reads: “Congratulations @ElonMusk and @SpaceX on the successful #FalconHeavy launch. This achievement, along with @NASA’s commercial and international partners, continues to show American ingenuity at its best!”

At the time, Musk, chief executive of the aerospace company SpaceX, replied, saying: “Thank you on behalf of SpaceX. An exciting future lies ahead!” (see here ).

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2018

However, the fabricated screenshot (which is likely to have been edited from the original exchange as the date and minute timestamps match), appears to show Musk replying: “I’m from South Africa you dumbass.” See example here ( here ).

Reuters found no evidence of Musk ever tweeting this. An advanced search on his Twitter feed brought no relevant results ( bit.ly/3Lm6btN ).

While the fabricated screenshot has been online since at least Feb. 10, 2018 ( here) (here ) and debunked since by Snopes ( here ), the content has resurfaced after the news broke of Musk’s Twitter deal on April 25, 2022.

An iteration posted on Twitter has been retweeted more than 2,400 times since it was posted on April 25 archived here ( here ).

pic.twitter.com/P509mLwef7

— Ernie/Bashy (@Erny_Simbine) April 26, 2022

 

“People worrying that Elon Musk will support Trump on Twitter easily forget their dialogue on the platform,” a Facebook user commented (here ).

Musk, born in Pretoria, South Africa, clinched a deal to buy Twitter Inc for $44 billion cash on April 25 in a transaction that will shift control of the social media platform populated by millions of users and global leaders to the world’s richest person ( here ).

VERDICT

False. This screenshot allegedly showing Elon Musk calling former U.S. President Donald Trump a “dumbass” is fabricated.