Is Elon Musk buying McDonald's? Viral post debunked
A recent Facebook post claimed that Elon Musk is buying McDonald's. On November 12, user Amelia Fisher5 shared a photo collage of the Tesla CEO with a caption making this claim.
The report was originally published by The Facts USA on November 11. The outlet said Musk allegedly announced:
"I am officially buying McDonalds"
The article continued:
"In a move no one saw coming, the billionaire entrepreneur has set his sights on the fast-food giant, adding another iconic brand to his ever-expanding portfolio."
The Facts USA said, as per speculations, Musk intends to bring innovative food technologies, automated services, sustainability to the fast-food empire. The outlet further explained Musk’s involvement with McDonald’s could result in AI-regulated kitchen, packaging, and delivery procedures.
However, Musk did not make any such public declarations about buying McDonald's. The fast-food giant has also not made any announcements or posts hinting at the same.
Moreover, the Facebook post was flagged by Meta, and was also fact-checked as "False information" by PolitiFact and Newsmobile Fact Checker.
Elon Musk is not buying McDonald's — viral photo is AI-generated
Facebook user Amelia Fisher5's post contained a photo collage alongside the claim about Elon Musk and McDonald's. In one of the images, Musk was holding a McDonald's plaque, in the second image, he was seen eating French fries, while in the third image, he appeared to be in a staff's outfit behind the counter.
However, running the photo collage on Sighengine detected 99% AI element. It added that the picture was likely created using GenAI, further debunking the post that Elon Musk is buying McDonald's.
In 2022, after Elon Musk finalized his official deal to buy Twitter, now X, he jokingly tweeted about acquiring ownership of Coca-Cola next and "put the cocaine back in". As the tweet from April 28, 2022, went viral, within an hour the Tesla CEO shared a fake tweet that showed him claiming:
"Now I'm going to buy McDonald's and fix all of the ice cream machines..."
Musk wrote in the quote-tweet:
"Listen, I can’t do miracles ok."
However, it is to be noted, it was only a fake tweet that Musk shared. The words about buying McDonald's did not directly come from him.
On January 25, 2022, Elon Musk made another tweet tagging the fast-food chain:
"I will eat a happy meal on tv if @McDonalds accepts Dogecoin"
The restaurant chain quote-tweeted Musk's post and jokingly replied:
"only if @tesla accepts grimacecoin"
Grimace is one of the popular fictional characters in the McDonald's media franchise. During Musk and McDonald's Twitter exchange, the Grimace coin did not exist. However, soon after gaining traction, it was launched as a crypto token.
Despite the events, McDonald's does not accept DogeCoin as a payment method to this day.