Elon Musk

Did the NFL admit to canceling Elon's DOGE Super Bowl ads as several viral social media posts say? No, that's not true: This claim originated on a satirical Facebook page with a clear disclaimer. The page owner is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The claim appeared in a Facebook post (archived here) published on February…

Did USAID place a real ad reading "Help Eliminate Elon" on a street in Washington, D.C., in February 2025? No, that's not true: As Capital Bikeshare, the owner of the bike stand ad box, stopped selling ads in April 2024 it would be an unauthorized posting, according to the person who was last in charge of selling the ads. Artist…

Did Elon Musk pay for an ad that aired during the Super Bowl that claimed the U.S. Agency for International Development spent $2 million on German llama racing and other nonsensical spending? No, that's not true: No ads aired during the Super Bowl from Elon Musk about outlandish things the agency was supposedly spending millions of dollars on, including llama…

Did the Canadian government threaten a "100 percent tariff on Tesla" in February 2025? No, that's not true: While the federal government in Ottawa was considering its options, the Department of Finance Canada said," The claim is false." Instead, proposals to impose a 100 percent tax on Teslas came from individual Canadian politicians, not the government itself. The implied claim…

Is a grayscale video of various celebrities wearing a t-shirt featuring a Star of David on a hand giving the finger to Kanye West a real ad? No, that's not true: The AI generated video, set to the tune of Jewish folk song "Hava Nagila", appears to show Scarlett Johansson, Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg, Mark Zuckerberg, Sacha Baron Cohen, David…

Did Elon Musk spend $40 million on Super Bowl ads that listed all the corruption the Department of Government Efficiency has found so far? No, that's not true: There was no credible evidence supporting the assertion that Musk bought five 30-second ads for the February 9, 2025, Super Bowl about the "corruptions DOGE has found so far." No ads aired…

Did the Federal Emergency Management Agency fraudulently send $59 million to luxury hotels in New York City to "house illegal migrants"? It's complicated: A New York City Hall spokesperson told Lead Stories that New York "never paid luxury-hotel rates" and that about a third of the $59 million -- around $19 million -- covered "direct hotel costs." A Department of…

Did Katherine Long, the reporter who broke a news story about the resignation of a DOGE employee work for USAID when the story was published in February 2025? No, that's not true: The reporter in question was previously employed by an organization that worked with USAID. At the time of this publication, Long was writing for the Wall Street Journal.…

Did a reporter ask House Speaker Mike Johnson during a February 5, 2025, news conference if the politician thought "unelected government officials are dangerous, but unelected billionaires making policy decisions is fine"? No, that's not true: A social media post representing this exchange is fabricated. There is no record of this question-and-answer in a broadcast of the press conference or…

Did CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper appear on Canada's CBC News to endorse a set of "crypto trading secrets" supposedly launched by Elon Musk? No, that's not true: A CNN spokesperson told Lead Stories that a video which appeared to show the endorsement was "fabricated and manipulated." AI detection tool Hive Moderation found the video and audio were likely created…