Screenshot of Elon Musk's tweet about buying Snapchat is fabricated
Social Media users are sharing a screenshot of Elon Musk’s purported tweet that he will now buy Snapchat.
By Md Mahfooz Alam Published on 26 Nov 2022 5:39 AM GMT
Social Media users are sharing a screenshot of Elon Musk's purported tweet that he will now buy Snapchat.
The tweet reads, "Next I'am buying Snapchat and deleting all the filters. Welcome back to reality, ladies."
Snapchat is a multimedia instant messaging app that lets users exchange pictures and videos (snaps), which disappear after they are viewed.
The screenshot is being widely shared on Facebook and Twitter.
Websites Modern Ghana and DklassGh have also published articles claiming that Elon Musk is buying Snapchat.
Fact Check
NewsMeter ran a keyword search about Elon Musk buying Snapchat but did not come across any such reports by credible media organizations.
The viral screenshot shows that the tweet was done on 20 November. Therefore, we checked for the tweets from Musk's account on the same date but did not find any tweets on Snapchat. Musk, on 20 November, did three tweets and retweeted two videos; none of these was about Snapchat.
In the three tweets, Musk talked about the best coverage of the FIFA World Cup on Twitter, reinstating former US President Donald Trump's Twitter account, and also took a dig at his critics who predicted Twitter's collapse.
Next, we did an advanced search on Musk mentioning Snapchat in his tweets and came across a tweet of 27 May 2022. In this tweet, Musk cited the example of the stock drop of Snapchat.
Finally, we examined the viral tweet with one of original Musk's tweets from 20 November and found many inconsistencies.
• In the viral tweet, the time, date stamp, and the tweet's device are not properly aligned.
• In the standard format, the time and date stamp are separated with a dot, while in the viral tweet, the time and date stamp show separation with a hyphen.
• In the standard format, the month name starts in upper case (Nov) followed by lower case, while the viral tweet shows only upper case (NOV).
• In the standard format, the date stamp is separated from the tweet's device with a dot, while in the viral tweet, there is no separation with the dot.
It is evident from these findings that the viral tweet is fabricated. Hence, we conclude that the claim that Elon Musk is buying Snapchat is false.
