Did Fox News broadcast a segment about a "revolutionary device that's healing the world" named "Tesla Ionic Care" and "backed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump"? No, that's not true: The TV channel denied that. Three AI detectors showed that the viral video with the Fox News logo contained AI-generated content.
The claim appeared in a post on X (archived here) on March 24, 2025. It opened:
🚨BIG PHARMA COLLAPSE - THE HEALTH REVOLUTION HAS ARRIVED WITH TESLA IONIC CARE‼️
The entry continued:
🔬TESLA IONIC CARE is a game-changing Terahertz Technology that shatters barriers, backed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Donald Trump! No more toxic drugs, no more dependence - MILLIONS ARE BREAKING FREE and reclaiming their health!
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Tue Mar 25 14:11:38 2025 UTC)
The entry included what seemed to be a fragment of a Fox News show discussing "ionic care". As the screenshot above shows, the lower banner in the video referred to it as "the revolutionary device that's healing the world".
However, a Google search for this term across the TV channel's website (archived here) showed no articles mentioning it in the period between January 1 and March 25, 2025:
(Source: Google screenshot taken on Tue Mar 25 20:18:39 2025 UTC)
When asked about the video about "ionic care", a spokesperson for Fox News told Lead Stories via email on March 25, 2025:
This did not air on Fox News.
Hiya, which tests audio authenticity inside the InVid verification plugin toolbox (archived here), showed that the audio in the supposed Fox News video was the product of voice cloning:
(Source: InVid screenshot taken on Tue Mar 25 14:35:21 2025 UTC)
Deepfake-O-Meter (archived here) also suggested the sound was not authentic:
(Source: Deepfake-O-Meter screenshot taken on Tue Mar 25 14:48:13 2025 UTC)
One more AI detector, Hive Moderation, said that the video is likely to "contain AI-generated or deepfake content":
(Source: Hive Moderation screenshot taken on Tue Mar 25 15:07:52 2025 UTC)
A Google search for the term "Tesla ionic care" produced a single result outside of social media platforms, and that was a defunct website:
(Source: Archive.Today screenshot taken on Tue Mar 25 15:28:39 2025 UTC)
Additional Google searches led to another website selling a similarly sounding product that used stock images to illustrate "real experiences":
(Source: Teslacare-x.net screenshot taken on Tue Mar 25 15:44:57 2025 UTC, TinEye screenshots taken on Tue Mar 25 between 15:05:26 and 15:06:16 2025 UTC; composite image by Lead Stories)
Contrary to the promise of "cutting-edge technology to precisely target the human body" that offers "effective solutions for a variety of health concerns", the website's disclaimer directly contradicted the claims:
- TeslaCare-X products are intended for general wellness purposes and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
The disclaimer further described "TeslaCare-X is an independent brand offering its own unique products" that is "not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to any individual, organization, or company, including any entities that may share similar names or operate in related industries", but, according to the ICANN lookup tool, the website was registered by an individual:
(Source: ICANN screenshot taken on Tue Mar 25 15:58:21 2025 UTC)
As of March 25, 2025, the button to place an order did not function on the website.
One more website with "Tesla care" in its name, linked to the same registration address and also registered by an individual, displayed a nearly identical layout and wording. it lacked the About page but displayed the $499 price tag per device.
Those resources appeared to have partially reused the name of Elon Musk's company specializing in manufacturing cars and solar panels. As of this writing, the news section of the real Tesla website (archived here) said nothing about the purported "ionic care" or "Tesla care X" products.
A search across the FDA's resources cataloguing approved devices and treatments here, here, here, here and here, did not show any matches for the term "Terahertz", as of March 25, 2025.
Terahertz waves are electromagnetic waves whose areas of application are generally described (archived here) as security screening, medical imaging and communications (archived here).
Lead stories reached out to the FDA and Tesla for additional comments. If we receive their responses, this story will be updated as appropriate.
Read more
Other Lead Stories fact checks about health are here.
