The viral photograph of Musk was manipulated to give him what some described as the look of a full moon face emoji.
After billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk was spotted alongside Jared Kushner and other famous individuals at the FIFA World Cup final on Dec. 18, 2022, a number of photographs of him made the rounds online. One in particular shared on Twitter by Laura Bassett, editor-in-chief of Jezebel, a woman-focused magazine, raised questions about its authenticity:
For reference, this is the full moon face emoji.
Musk looked visibly older in the photograph, his hairline thinner, his face more saggy than it appeared in other recent photos of him. This photograph was very clearly manipulated, as evidenced by comparable photographs taken at the same event.
Others on Twitter shared what was clearly the same photograph, but with no visible alterations:
Videos at the event also showed Musk's face and body looking nothing like the "moon face emoji":
Given that the photograph was clearly manipulated, we rate this claim as "False."