A headline reporting that Elon Musk has called for a boycott of Tyson Foods originated on a satirical website that regularly posts fabricated comments attributed to the billionaire entrepreneur.
Tyson Foods’ March 11 announcement that it would close a pork plant in Iowa, eliminating jobs for about 1,200 workers, has generated false reports on social media that the fired employees would be replaced with 42,000 workers in the U.S. illegally.
shared images of Musk and Tyson Foods’ logo, saying: “Elon Musk Calls for Boycott of Tyson Foods ‘I Will Never Buy From Tyson Foods Ever Again!’” The post garnered reactions such as: “Me either!” and “Already have.”
However, the quote attributed to SpaceX CEO Musk was published on the website SpaceXMania in a March 2024 article, opens new tab with a satire label.
The article credits a post made by Musk on social media platform X, but no such post, opens new tab appears in search results for Musk’s X account, nor in archives of posts to the account in 2024
SpaceXMania says on its About Us, opens new tab page that its mission is “to bring you the freshest fake news, some sassy analysis, and a good dose of satire, all rolled into one crazy concoction that orbits around Elon Musk and everything that’s lighting up the viral/trending charts”.
Reuters has previously addressed misrepresentations of the site’s satirical content about Musk as authentic news.
The press team at X responded, “Busy now, please check back later.”
Satire. A quote attributed to Elon Musk about calling for a boycott of Tyson Foods originated in a satirical article.
NOTE: THIS is Satire
