Facebook rumors have spread in March and April 2025 that technological billionaire Elon Musk, US President Donald Trump’s adviser, donated $ 800,000 to help the victims of the storm repair their homes.
Consumers shared and discussed this rumor when tornado and violent winds struck the Midwest and South in early April, while millions of people remained under heavy meteorological tips for potential record and life -threatening lightning floods.
For example, on March 30, the manager of a popular Facebook profile named Sense published (archived), partly, “Elon Musk donates $ 800,000 to help residents repair homes after storms, supporting community restoration.” The publication included a link leading to an article on a WordPress blog, simply called “My WordPress Blog”. Other Facebook users also shared the same hearing with posts, including links to the same article posted on other websites.
The image reads: “Elon Musk presents $ 800,000 to help residents repair homes after storms.” (Meaning/facebook)
However, we have revealed no evidence that suggests that Musk – recently or in the past – donated a specific sum of $ 800,000 to the victims of the storm. The search for X Feed, Bing, Bing, Bing, Duckduckgo, Google and Yahoo did not lead to reliable results to help confirm the rumors. At the same time, the companies of Musk and his foundation contributed to the victims of the storm, as in detail in this article.
WordPress’s WordPress blog article shows signs of artificial intelligence generation, according to SCANS with AI, Gptzero, Quillbot and Scribbr’s detection websites. Someone also created the image of the AI tool above. One of the few signs of an AI picture generated is the extra fingers of the object’s hand; Musk’s left hand showed six fingers.
The article does not include information on when or where Musk made the estimated donation of $ 800,000, nor did the author of the story indicate the people who have benefited from the contribution. The owner or owners of the websites, hosting an article that shows many ads that earn them revenue, have sought to take advantage and to establish the beliefs of conservative US users. For example, the aforementioned Facebook account includes the Page Transparency tab that identifies its manager as a resident in Northern Macedonia, a country related to the 2016 and 2020 election misinformation efforts.
Other Facebook publications have promoted similar fictional rumors, potentially with AI elements generated, including “Stunner: Homes for the needy!”, “” Homes for needy! “,” The ultimate generosity of Elon Musk: $ 55 million to build homes for the poor! “And” Elon Musk’s Secret Plan: $ 5 billion to build homes for hurricane victims! “
Representatives of SpaceX, Tesla and the White House have not yet answered requests for comment on this issue, in particular asking if Musk donated $ 800,000 to casualties to a storm. Sense Facebook account manager did not answer questions about their efforts.
Musk’s true contribution to the victims of the storm
There are true stories of Musk’s generosity to the victims of the storm and other causes.
On October 7, 2024, the New Orleans Disaster Recovery Organization, based in New Orleans, SBP announced it had received (archived) a grant of $ 2.4 million from Musk’s Musk Foundation to help the victims of the storm after the hurricane Helen. The real donation of $ 2.4 million was the tripled number of $ 800,000 in the story created.
After a volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga in January 2022, Musk’s SpaceX, a company for which he serves as CEO, helped to restore (archive) some of the island’s internet services.
Also, on October 26, 2017, the World Economic Forum announced Musk’s efforts, including Tesla, where he also served as CEO, contributing (archived) his Powerwall battery storage technology to return electricity to Puerto Rico after Uragan Maria in September 2017.
Inside the philanthropy (archived), he publishes details of other Musk Foundation contributions, including $ 5 million for vaccines and diagnostic instruments Covid-19, $ 50 million for St. Jude and $ 480,000 for water in Flint, Michigan. However, the New York Times announced in December 2024 that the foundation failed to comply with a standard for donating at least 5% of its assets in three consecutive years.
The Musk and SBP Foundation has not yet responded to requests for a comment, in particular asking the Foundation for its contribution to the victims of the storm and asked SBP for more details of a $ 2.4 million grant.
Sources:
“For us.” Sbphttps://www.sbpusa.org/about-us/.
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Collins, Ben and Brandy Harry. “Troll farms from Northern Macedonia and the Philippines pushed the coronavirus misinformation on Facebook.” NBC NewsMay 29, 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/troll-farms-macedonia-filippines-pushed-coronavirus-disinformation- Facebook-N1218376.
Emery, David and Jessica Lee. “4 Tips for Notifying AI Generated Photos.” BundleApril 16, 2023, https://www.snopes.com//articles/464595/artificial-intelligence-media-literacy/.
Fahrenthold, David A. and Theodore Schleifer. “The Musk Foundation distributed less money than required in 2023” The New York TimesDecember 12, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/US/politics/musk-foundation-taxes-donations.html.
Galon, home. “Tesla returns power to Puerto Rico’s hospitals.” World Economic Forum (WeF)Oct 26
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Hughes, Heather K. and Israel Wisel-Menier. “The Macedonian Fake News Industry and the US elections in 2016” PS: Political Science and PoliticsTom. 54, issue. January 1, 2021, pp. 19-23. Cambridge University Presshttps://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096520000992.
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“—.” Inside the philanthropyhttps://www.insidephilanthropy.com/find-a-grant/grants-m/musk-foundation.
Perry, Nick and David rise. “Musk helps to restore the Tongan Internet; growing a hearth of viruses.” Associated PressFebruary 9, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/Spacex-technology-business-volcanic-ruptions-tonga-22F9378648323C0B5BFEEEF774DA7B7B.
SBP. “Musk” Foundation donates $ 2.4 million in support of SBP’s SBP Hurricane Recovery effort after epic destruction. ” SbpOctober 7, 2024, https://www.sbpusa.org/blog/musk-foundation-donates-2-4-million- to-support-sbp/.