An Elon Musk ABC boycott is ‘satire’, but not everyone gets the joke

Elon Musk is calling for a boycott of Australian broadcaster ABC, an article shared on social media claims.

This is false. The article was first published by a satirical website and labelled as ‘satire’.

The claim appears in Facebook posts featuring links and images of the American billionaire laughing alongside office buildings displaying ABC logos.

“Elon Musk Calls for Boycott of ABC Network: ‘Let’s Take ‘Em Down!’…” one post caption said.

Another post said: “ABC Loses Almost 1 Million Subscribers Overnight After Elon Musk’s Boycott Call”.

Social media posts have shared images from a fake news article labelled as satire.

The posts link to articles about US broadcaster ABC, but a reverse image search revealed the buildings in the photos were the Australian national broadcaster’s Sydney and Melbourne offices.

The linked articles refer to a purported stoush between Mr Musk and the US ABC after the broadcaster hosted a presidential debate.

AAP FactCheck found the earliest instance of the claim was a Facebook post by a satirical page called SpaceX Fanclub, which included a ‘satire’ label.

That post linked to the earliest version of the Musk article published by a satirical website called Esspots.

AAP has previously reported that Pakistan-based Muhammad Shabayer Shaukat runs the Esspots website and the SpaceX FanClub Facebook page.

He told AAP FactCheck that his articles and posts were created using artificial intelligence, including ChatGPT, to boost clicks and generate advertising revenue.
 Images on the original post were overlaid with a “satire” disclaimer.
Mr Shabayer Shaukat said he wasn’t responsible for users who shared his content without ‘satire’ labels.

AAP FactCheck could not find evidence of Musk calling for a boycott of the US or Australian ABCs.

The billionaire has called the Australian government “Facists” in an X post in response to a user reporting that it planned to fine social media platforms that failed to prevent the spread of misinformation.

AAP FactCheck has previously debunked posts referencing Mr Shabayer Shaukat’s content without a satire label.