Fabricated screenshot of an Elon Musk tweet saying he will 'buy TikTok and delete it'

Fabricated screenshot of an Elon Musk tweet saying he will 'buy TikTok and delete it'

(Reuters) - An image shared on social media purports to show Elon Musk saying on Twitter that he will buy social media app TikTok and delete it. The screenshot appears to be fabricated.

One Facebook user sharing the claim said: “You will be my hero sir” (here). Twitter users sharing the image can be seen (here) and (here).

The screenshot shared by social media users shows a post on Musk’s official Twitter handle @elonmusk saying “Now I’m going to buy TikTok and delete it haha” on Oct. 31.

But there is no evidence that Musk, the new owner of Twitter, shared this tweet under his official account (twitter.com/elonmusk). Archived versions at the time (here), or PolitiTweet, a site that keeps record of deleted tweets by public figures (here) show no evidence of such a tweet.

Representatives for Twitter and Musk have not immediately responded to Reuters’ request for comment.

Some screenshots of the tweet include “Twitter for Tesla” where the social media company shows the client that each tweet is sent from. This feature displays whether a user is using a web browser, mobile iOS, Android device, or third-party services like Buffer and Echofon that allow users to post on the site.

Reuters has not found any credible reports that Tesla is one of the third-party services that allow users to post on Twitter, or any record of “Twitter for Tesla” appearing under other users’ tweets.

Unsupported claims of Musk buying TikTok or Facebook appear to have circulated since April (here), (here) (here).

Musk’s existing tweets mentioning TikTok can be seen (here).

VERDICT

False. There is no evidence of Musk sharing this post on Twitter.