No, Elon Musk is not dead

In April 2024, false rumors circulated claiming that Elon Musk had died. For example, one viral tweet shared an article titled “Elon Musk – Dead at 52 – Says No Need for Misinformation Laws,” to which some commenters responded with messages indicating they believed the death was real . The post had been viewed more than 676,600 times and liked 14,000 times at the time of writing.

A user on Reddit also shared the article and received 41,000 upvotes at the time of writing.

The posted article, published on the satirical news site The Shovel, provided no evidence for an audience member to independently verify the claim, nor did it provide details on Elon Musk’s cause or manner of death.

Additionally, posts on Reddit spread the false rumor, with one post receiving over 41,000 upvotes at the time of writing (archived here).

Completely 100% factual* information published about Elon Musk saying there is no need for disinformation laws
byu/pocketfullofdragonsinLeopardsAteMyFace

These posts followed waves of similar posts for years fictionalizing the celebrity’s death, including that he died in a car battery explosion in 2021 and died by suicide in 2023.

However, there was no evidence that the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla had died in April 2024. If that had actually happened, reputable news outlets like The Associated Press would have published obituaries to commemorate his death. That hadn’t happened.

The site that published the original article, The Shovel, describes the articles as “satire” and a page (archived here) states the following disclaimer on its website:

The majority of the articles we publish are in fake news style, but we will also consider other formats (such as guides, editorial style pieces, lists, cartoons, etc.). Articles exposing Peppa Pig’s subversive communist undertones should be sent to The Australian.

Death threats from celebrities are a form of junk news, designed to get gullible readers to linger on a website or engage with a social media user because it involves a famous person. Such articles are often click baitif not outright phishing scam. In rare cases, the non-factual rumors are based on incorrect reporting or misunderstandings.

Here is our running list of the celebrity death threats that everyone has focused on Clint Eastwood Unpleasant Jos Peck Unpleasant Sam Elliott Unpleasant Celine Dion.

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