‘Fact checked’: Netizens troll Elon Musk after tech billionaire shares fake Donald Trump article

Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO and Space X owner, became the centre of embarrassment on his social media platform X after he shared a fake article screenshot. The tech billionaire shared a screenshot of an article that was later found to be fake. 

Criticising The Atlantic over its supposed anti-Trump agenda, Elon Musk stated, “They are literally foaming at the mouth.” The fake article titled ‘Trump Is Literally Hitler’ claimed to be published by The Atlantic, was alerted as manipulated text by the Community Notes feature.

The feature, formerly known as Birdwatch, stated, “This headline does not correspond to any legitimate article live on www.theatlantic.com.” Community Notes, designed to fact-check posts, image or video, is a community-driven content moderation initiative based on a crowd-sourced system.

Community Notes mentioned that the article screenshot is a satirical take or Photoshop of a genuine piece published by The Atlantic around the same day on October 22, 2024, that is headlined "Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had.’ Furthermore, Community Notes linked it to a follow-up post by user 'Indian_Bronson' that had originally posted the manipulated article - where the user admitted, “It's me satirising them.”

This is a huge embarrassment for Elon Musk, who has vociferously endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump for the US Presidential elections scheduled for November 5.

Social media reacted strongly to this post. One user stated, “Once again, Mr. Musk, you have been bamboozled by a faked post. That article is not real. Shouldn’t we expect the owner of this platform to at least do minimal checking?” Another user ridiculed, “I love that you don't even bother to check if something is real anymore.” A third user commented, “Fact checked by your own platform twice in one day.” 

A fourth user wrote, “The best part is that they're getting absolutely lit up. No one believes their lies anymore." A fifth user stated, "Can’t wait for your indictment to be unsealed. It’s gonna be so cute.”

Elon Musk, who has campaigned extensively both online and offline for the former US President, is one of the biggest Republican donors. To encourage voter support, he even participated in a rally in Pennsylvania few days ago.

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