On February 28th, 2023, Georgian-language Facebook users, as well as a Russian-language page Newsweek_VL and individual Facebook profiles (1, 2, 3), published a screenshot of the tweet of Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX. The screenshot shows that Musk has replied to a tweet related to the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, saying that the city is “almost surrounded and it’s good.”
The screenshots disseminated by Georgian and Russian-speaking Facebook accounts represent a visual manipulation. Musk indeed responded to the Bakhmut -related tweet, noting that the city is “almost surrounded,” although he used the comment “it’s good” in relation to a video posted by a mattress Company.
Elon Musk indeed responded to the tweet related to Bakhmut published by the Twitter account War Mapper, noting “Almost Surrounded,” though he has not written that “it’s good.”
In fact, Musk responded to a Tweet published by Eight Sleep, which is unrelated to the Russian-Ukrainian war. Eight Sleep produces mattresses, the temperature of which can be regulated. It was the video of the adjustable temperature mattress that Elon Musk commented on, saying, “It’s good.”
Notably, despite his initial support towards Ukraine, the recent statements by Elon Musk have been widely criticized. One of the statements of Musk was about the “peace plan”, which meant Ukraine’s declaration of neutrality and giving up Crimea to Russia. In addition, Elon Musk said in October last year that his company would not be able to deliver a satellite Internet Starlink to Ukraine for free indefinitely, and then said he would continue to supply and fund the Internet.
Against the backdrop of fluctuating support and controversial statements towards Ukraine, a satirical Twitter post was circulated on the social network at the end of February, which some Facebook users perceived as accurate information and disseminated accordingly. According to the post, Twitter, whose CEO is Elon Musk, banned non-verified users from using the Ukrainian flag symbol. For more details, see our article:
About the Source
Georgian-language Facebook user, Davit Jebashvili, is a repeated spreader of disinformation. False and manipulative statements and visuals published by the user have been fact-checked a number of times by “Myth Detector” in the past. For more details, see our articles:
- Yet Another Fabricated Caricature of Volodymyr Zelenskyy Disseminated on Social Media
- Caricatures of Zelenskyy and Sunak do not Belong to the Indian Magazine ANANDA VIKATAN
- The War in Ukraine in 2022 or the First Aid Training in 2016 – What does the Photo Collage Depict?
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