Did Elon Musk encourage a boycott of Tyson Foods as of March 23, 2024? No, that's not true: There is no such statement on Musk's X account. The claim originated from a satirical website, and Musk doesn't appear to be involved in calls for a boycott of Tyson Foods at the time of writing.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Facebook on March 23, 2024. The post included a graphic that read:
Elon Musk Calls for Boycott of Tyson Foods
"I Will Never Buy From Tyson Foods Ever Again!"
The first comment under the post, made by the same page that made the post, was a link, indicating that the claim came from another satire site: SpaceXMania.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Mar 25 21:54:58 2024 UTC)
The link under the post made on Facebook led to a website called SpacexMania, which states 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" (archived here). Lead Stories has fact checked several claims from the website.
The article linked in the post made on Facebook, titled "Breaking: Elon Musk Calls for Boycott of Tyson Foods, 'I Will Never Buy From Tyson Foods Ever Again!'" (archived here) doesn't cite any traceable sources. However, the article claims that Musk made this announcement "via Twitter," referring to the social media platform owned by Musk that is now known as X.
Lead Stories searched Musk's X account for any post that matched the claim but we didn't find any results (archived here). Based on searches on Google (archived here) and Google News (archived here), there doesn't appear to be credible information about Musk being involved in the boycott.
The claim may have stemmed from a Tyson Foods plant closure in Iowa (archived here) and misinformation about hiring practices at the company. In March 2024, some X users called for a boycott of the company, seemingly based on incorrect information stating that the company planned to hire thousands of people who entered the U.S. illegally (archived here). The Associated Press (archived here) and The Washington Post (archived here) both debunked this claim, noting that it could be traced to information that was erroneously reported or sensationalized by news outlets.
Other Lead Stories fact checks related to Elon Musk can be found here.
