Fact Check: Fact Check: No, Elon Musk did not tweet that he will buy Snapchat

Molly Stellino, USA TODAY
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The claim: Image shows Elon Musk tweeted that he’s buying Snapchat

Elon Musk, the billionaire head of Tesla and SpaceX, has said he has "too much work on my plate" since buying Twitter in October.

Still, some social media users are claiming Musk recently tweeted that he will purchase yet another company: Snapchat.

"Next I’m buying Snapchat and deleting all of the filters. Welcome back to reality ladies," reads the text in an image posted to Facebook on Nov. 22 (direct link, archived link). The image is supposed to look as if it is a tweet from Musk.

The post was shared more than 4,000 times within two weeks. Two other versions of the claim on Facebook garnered more than 1,000 shares. The claim also spread on Instagram and TikTok.

But there is no record of Musk publishing the tweet, nor are there any credible news reports of him buying the instant messaging app.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

USA TODAY reached out to Twitter, Snapchat and social media users who shared the claim for comment.

No evidence Musk tweeted he would buy Snapchat

The image of the tweet in the post does not include a date, but images in similar posts with the claim assert Musk tweeted the announcement on Nov. 20 and Nov. 26. Musk’s official Twitter account, however, shows no such tweet on those dates.

Musk’s only mention of Snapchat on Twitter was on May 26. He did not say anything about purchasing the app in that tweet.

In addition, there have been no credible news reports of Musk buying, attempting to buy or thinking about buying Snapchat.

Fact check: No, Bill Gates didn’t tell G-20 leaders 'death panels' will soon be required

The image in the Facebook post also uses a different font and text formatting from the Twitter style.

USA TODAY previously debunked claims about Musk, including that he fired Twitter’s legal officer live on air, that an outgoing Twitter employee suspended Musk's account and that he planned to buy and delete Facebook.

PolitiFact and India Today also debunked the claim about Musk tweeting he would purchase Snapchat.

Our rating: Altered

Based on our research, we rate ALTERED an image that purports to show Musk tweeted that he’s buying Snapchat. There is no record of Musk tweeting this, nor are there credible news reports of him making this announcement. In addition, the font and spacing in the image are inconsistent with Twitter style.t .

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact Check: No, Elon Musk did not tweet that he will buy Snapchat