The claim: Elon Musk pledged $5 billion campaign donation at Pennsylvania rally
An Oct. 6 Threads post ( direct link , archive link ) includes images of Tesla CEO Elon Musk at former President Donald Trump’s Oct. 5 campaign event.
“Breaking: Elon Musk Announces $5 Billion Endorsement Donation at Pennsylvania Rally: ‘This Feels Right,” reads the post.
It was reposted more than 90 times in a week. Other versions of the claim circulated on Threads .
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Our rating: False
Musk said no such thing in his speech. The claim originated on a satirical website.
Musk called 2024 election a 'must win situation'
Musk made a guest appearance at Trump’s Oct. 5 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania – exactly 12 weeks after an attempted assassination against Trump at the same venue.
Trump invited Musk, who has been an outspoken supporter of his , on stage at one point during his speech. Musk spoke for roughly six minutes , but at no point did he pledge a multibillion-dollar donation.
Among the topics he actually discussed were the importance of voter turnout and the significance of the 2024 presidential race – which he described as a “must-win situation " for Trump.
Musk has not announced any such donation through his platform X , formerly Twitter. Nor are there reports from legitimate news outlets about the supposed pledge.
The Tesla CEO has said that he is "making some donations " to America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC he founded to support candidates that reflect his views on border security, government spending and free speech, among other topics. Musk has contributed tens of millions of dollars to the PAC, according to The New York Times .
Fact check : Claim Primanti Bros. closed locations after JD Vance visit is stolen satire
The claim of a $5 billion donation first appeared in an Oct. 6 article on SpaceXMania.com , a satirical outlet that includes a disclaimer saying, “Nothing on this page is real.” The article includes a satire label at the top.
It's an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where stories written as satire and presented that way originally are reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
USA TODAY has debunked an array of stolen satire claims stemming from SpaceXMania.com articles, including false assertions that CBS fired the moderators of the vice presidential debate, that Coca-Cola cut ties with Taylor Swift over her endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris and that ABC fired the moderators of the presidential debate in September.
USA TODAY reached out to several users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive responses.
Check Your Fact and Snopes also debunked the claim.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elon Musk's Trump rally speech touted voter turnout, not $5 billion donation | Fact check
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