A fake news story claiming Elon Musk abused a cat while at college that went viral on Twitter this week has now been debunked.
On November 7, Twitter user @hepcatsector posted screenshots of an article about the alleged past wrongdoings of the new Twitter CEO. The tweet soon went viral, with more than 80,000 likes and over 15,000 retweets.
While Musk is frequently trolled online for his tweets and actions, this one left many baffled. The images stated that the Twitter CEO's father allegedly paid $125,000 to cover up an animal abuse charge. The article also claimed that Musk was supposedly "high on cocaine," and that the animal "died shortly after."
Fake news on Elon Musk's animal abuse debunked
The images from the fake article were made to mimic an article from The Independent, a British online newspaper. The story was supposedly published on November 4, 2022 by Graeme Massie, headlined as Elon Musk’s father paid college $125,000 to ignore animal abuse claims.
The falsified report stated that the Tesla founder performed indecent acts on a cat belonging to a fellow student while he was high on cocaine. It further added that the animal had to be operated on as a result, which was paid for by Musk's father as part of the $125,000 settlement. The cat allegedly died soon after, due to an infection.
The fake article also asserted:
"The owner of Twitter has repeatedly terminated interviews in which this is brought up, going as far as to threaten journalists who repeat the story with legal action."A quick google search will show that there is no such article published by The Independent. In addition to the weird language used, it also seems to be a doctored version of an article by Massie for The Independent about Musk, titled Catturd’ Twitter account highlighted by Elon Musk turns on Tesla billionaire.
Netizens call out Musk on his attack on journalists after the fake claim
The reason for the falsified claims could be to troll the Tesla founder after his recent tweets to make Twitter "the most accurate source of information."
He additionally stated in his posts:
"You represent the problem: journalists who think they are the only source of legitimate information. That’s the big lie."The tweet left many users confused, with some netizens calling out Musk over his accusing tweets. While some stressed the importance of "reliable sources" when it came to "disinformation," others used memes to express their feelings towards Musk's comments.
Here's an interesting conversation addressing this:
Elon Musk acquired social media giant Twitter on October 27, 2022 and since the acquisition, the company has been in the news every day. Musk immediately announced that he would introduce new features, reduce bot accounts, make the algorithms open-sourced, and promote free speech.
In an attempt to combat the spam bot, the new Twitter CEO recently disclosed that he would launch a $7.99 per month subscription service for Twitter users to get a blue checkmark symbol.
The decision was questioned by many as the blue tick was earlier used by verified government accounts, notable figures, journalists, politicians, and other vetted users. Many celebrities with blue ticks took to impersonating Elon Musk in protest as well as in jest.
Quick Links
More from Sportskeeda
" modalPopup.closeOnEsc = false; modalPopup.setHeader("Why did you not like this content?"); modalPopup.setContentText(modalText); modalPopup.addCancelOkButton("Submit", resetRatingAndFeedbackForm, sendRating); modalPopup.removeCloseModalIcon(); modalPopup.disableDismissPopup(); modalPopup.open(); } else { sendRating(index); } } function sendRating() { var requestPayload = { "post_id": 1287783, "rating_value": ratingValue } if (ratingValue > 3) { requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = null; requestPayload.rating_feedback = null; } else { if (!$('input[name="drone"]:checked') || !$('input[name="drone"]:checked').value) { showErrorMessage('option'); return; } if (!$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea") || !$(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value) { showErrorMessage('note'); return; } var selectedOption = $('input[name="drone"]:checked').value; var feedbackNote = $(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea").value; requestPayload.rating_feedback_type = selectedOption; requestPayload.rating_feedback = feedbackNote; } pureJSAjaxPost(addratingAPI, requestPayload, onsaveRatingSuccess, onsaveRatingFail, function() {}, true); } function resetRatingAndFeedbackForm() { var activeStars = Array.from($all('.rating span.rating-star.active')); for (var i=0; i < activeStars.length; i++) { activeStars[i].classList.remove("active"); } if ($('input[name="drone"]:checked')) { $('input[name="drone"]:checked').checked = false; } var userNote = document.querySelector(".post-rating-feedback-note textarea"); userNote.value = ''; modalPopup.close(); } function onsaveRatingSuccess() { modalPopup.close(); savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie(); $("#post-rating-layout").classList.add("hidden"); $("#post-rating-message").classList.remove("hidden"); window.setInterval(function showMessage() { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.add("hidden"); }, 3000); } function onsaveRatingFail() { console.error('Saving post rating failed!'); modalPopup.close(); } function savePostIdInUserRatedPostsCookie() { userRatedPostIds.push(1287783); var expiryTime = new Date(); expiryTime.setMonth(expiryTime.getMonth() + 12); // Expiry after 1 year setCookie("user_rated_post_ids", JSON.stringify(userRatedPostIds), expiryTime); } function isPostRatedByUser() { var userRatedPostIds = getCookie('user_rated_post_ids'); if (userRatedPostIds) { try { userRatedPostIds = JSON.parse(userRatedPostIds); } catch (err) { console.error(err); return false; } } else { return false; } if(userRatedPostIds.indexOf(1287783) >= 0) { return true; } else { return false; } } function getRatingCountByPostId(postId) { return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) { pureJSAjaxGet( getRatingCountBaseURL + postId + '/rating/count', function(data) { try { data = JSON.parse(data); if (data.meta_value) { resolve(data.meta_value); } reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } catch (err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); } }, function(err) { reject("Failed to fetch rating count for the post:" + postId); }, true); }); } function showErrorMessage(messageType) { var messageContainerId = '#' + messageType + '-error'; $(messageContainerId).classList.remove('hidden'); window.setInterval(function () { $(messageContainerId).classList.add("hidden"); }, 5000); } (function() { var callFired = false; function lazyLoadPostRating() { if (callFired) return; callFired = true; if (!isPostRatedByUser()) { getRatingCountByPostId(1287783) .then(function(ratingCount) { if (ratingCount < 10) { $("#post-rating-widget").classList.remove("hidden"); } }) .catch(function(err){ console.error(err); }); } } document.addEventListener("scroll", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("mousemove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); document.addEventListener("touchmove", lazyLoadPostRating, { passive: true, once: true }); })();ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tLzOq6uso5WasaJ6wqikaKifpXqkwcutrKudX5q5sLqMpqyso12YrrV5wqijpZ2Xmnq0sdOto56llaPBbq%2FOp6urp6aav7TFjJ6vqaSRnrumsIyfmKSdXZi5orXMZp6onaNiw6q%2BwKVknaedlravq5U%3D