Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Elon Musk took to Facebook to wish Kathmandu Metro City Mayor Balen Shah on his birthday.
Fact
The viral screenshot purportedly showing Elon Musk’s Facebook post is edited. Musk didn’t wish Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah.
A video carrying a purported screenshot of US billionaire Elon Musk’s Facebook post wishing the mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Balendra Shah, on his birthday, is going viral on TikTok.
Balen Shah’s birthday is on April 26 according to popular media enterprise Routine of Nepal Banda, popular among young Nepalis with its abbreviations ROBN. Balen Shah was featured by New York Times as rapper-turned-young-mayor earlier in May 2023.
TikTok user @mero_nepal777 posted a video carrying an apparent screenshot of Elon Musk’s post on his verified Facebook account, wishing mayor of KMC Mayor Balen Shah on his birthday. The alleged post on the verified account by Elon Musk reads, “Happy birthday to the most energetic mayor of the world,” while the post also carries an iconic illustration of Balen Shah.
The video posted on April 27 has garnered 42.1k likes, 436 people have shared it and 303 users have commented until the last count. The archive version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker searched for the verified Facebook or Meta page named Elon Musk. However, the search didn’t yield any Facebook page or account with the blue badge matching the image carried in the viral video.
We, then, searched for the official Facebook account of Elon Musk on Google which led us to an article, dated Nov 2, 2021, published in Times of India. On checking the article titled ‘How Facebook got fooled by a fake profile of Elon Musk’, we found that Elon Musk made it publicly known that he is not on Facebook and he deleted his account in 2018.
It is a well-known fact that the billionaire, who also owns Tesla and SpaceX, took over X (formerly Twitter) in a $44 billion deal in October 2022.
On digging further, we found a Tweet by Elon Musk in 2018 where he replied in a thread that “he doesn’t use Facebook.”
Thus, our findings clearly showed that the alleged screen-grab from the Facebook post of Elon Musk is fabricated.
Conclusion
No, US Billionaire Elon Musk didn’t wish Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah on his birthday. The purported screen-grab from Elon Musk’s verified Facebook page is edited.
Result: Edited Image
Sources
ROBN/Facebook, April 26, 2024
Times of India, Nov 2, 2021
Elon Musk /X (Formerly Twitter),
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
