Manipulated clip of Elon Musk altered to claim Trump won 2020 presidential election
Manipulated clip of Elon Musk altered to claim Trump won 2020 presidential election
(Reuters) - A digitally manipulated clip has been shared online, creating the appearance that Twitter CEO Elon Musk claimed former U.S. President Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
The video shows two clips of Musk being interviewed spliced together, with the audio and visuals manipulated to make it seem that Musk said Trump was the winner of the last presidential election. In the second of the two clips, Musk appears to call Trump “the greatest president in history.”
Examples of the manipulated clip shared online can be seen (here) and (here).
The video is altered, however, and the first manipulated clip was derived from a 2017 TED talk featuring Musk in conversation with TED’s Chris Anderson (bit.ly/3WPfkAd).
A full transcript of the 2017 conversation does not reveal any such remark made by Musk (here). Nor is the remark viewable in highlights of the conversation compiled by TED (here).
The second clip was altered from Musk’s conversation with podcaster Joe Rogan uploaded in September 2018, where no such comment about the former president was made (bit.ly/2oOtkwk).
A spokesperson for Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters previously addressed another altered clip of Musk that made it appear that he had announced a bid to buy rival social media company, Meta (here).
VERDICT
Altered. The visuals and audio were manipulated from a 2017 TED talk and a 2017 podcast with Joe Rogan to make it appear that Musk claimed Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
