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Don’t quit your jobs, Brits. Supposed BBC News video about Elon Musk project was altered
If Your Time is short
- This video was altered and the claims in it are false.
What looks like a breaking news alert from BBC News host Matthew Amroliwala could leave some Brits hopeful that their 9-to-5 jobs will soon be a thing of the past.
"All British residents no longer need to work," Amroliwala appears to say. "That’s the announcement made by our guest today, Elon Musk, who will unveil a new investment project."
The video cuts to footage of Elon Musk, owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, appearing to discuss a new "powerful computing device."
But this video has been altered.
A Facebook post sharing it was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
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Original footage of both the BBC News clip and Musk show that the video in the post has been dubbed with audio that neither man said.
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The BBC News footage is from May, when Amroliwala reported on news items such as the G7 summit in Japan, Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy attending the Arab League summit and the 2023 election in Northern Ireland.
The footage of Musk comes from a June conference in Austin, Texas, at which Musk talked about the future of electrification. He didn’t discuss an investment project that would enable British residents to quit their jobs.
We rate the claims made in this altered video Pants on Fire!
Our Sources
Facebook post, Aug. 8, 2023
YouTube, Elon Musk and EEI Chair Pedro J. Pizarro, President and CEO, Edison International at EEI 2023, June 23, 2023
YouTube, BBC News (with Matthew Amroliwala) 15BST, May 19, 2023
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Don’t quit your jobs, Brits. Supposed BBC News video about Elon Musk project was altered
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