In April 2024, false rumors circulated claiming that Elon Musk had died. For instance, a viral tweet shared an article titled, "Elon Musk – Dead at 52 – Says There Is No Need for Misinformation Laws," to which some commentators responded with messages indicating they believed the death to be real. The post gained more than 676,600 views and 14,000 likes, as of this writing.
A user on Reddit also shared the article, garnering 41,000 upvotes, as of this writing.
The posted article, featured on satirical news site The Shovel, offered no evidence for an onlooker 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 receiving more than 41,000 upvotes, as of this writing [archived here].
Totally 100% Factual* information published about Elon Musk, who says there is no need for misinformation laws
byu/pocketfullofdragons inLeopardsAteMyFace
These posts followed waves of similar posts over 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, as of April 2024. Had that actually happened, reputable news outlets such as The Associated Press would have published obituaries to memorialize his death. That had not happened.
The site that published the original article, The Shovel, describes its articles as "satire," and a page [archived here] on its website states the following disclaimer:
The majority of the articles we publish are mock news-style, but we will consider other formats (like how-to guides, editorial style pieces, listicles, cartoons etc). Articles exposing the subversive communist undertones of Peppa Pig should be sent to The Australian.
Celebrity death hoaxes are a form of junk news, designed to get gullible readers to linger on a website or engage with a social media user because a famous person is involved. Such articles are often clickbait, if not outright phishing scams. In rare cases, the unfactual rumors are based on faulty reporting or misunderstandings.
Here's our running list of celebrity death hoaxes, which have targeted everyone from Clint Eastwood to Josh Peck to Sam Elliot to Celine Dion.