The surprising information was posted by the President of Argentina himself, further increasing its credibility.
Last Thursday, the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, asserted that billionaire Elon Musk had acquired the television and news channel CNN. It seems that President Milei quoted a satirical article published nearly a month ago, aimed at mocking the not-so-good relationship between CNN and Elon Musk.
Speaking at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Argentina Chamber of Commerce and Services, Mr. Milei made unflattering remarks about CNN, clearly showing his discontent with this news channel. He expressed his hope that under Elon Musk's leadership, CNN would begin to 'say good things' about new President Donald Trump.
However, the information Mr. Milei shared at the event is fake news.
Last Friday, Nacho Girón, a representative of CNN in Argentina, denied President Milei's assertion, stating that there is no truth to the claim that the American billionaire has acquired CNN. 'Elon Musk has no connection with CNN,' Mr. Girón reiterated.
Nevertheless, Mr. Milei's words were widely shared throughout the past weekend. Some X users pointed out that the satirical news site Spacexmania is likely the source of the fake news - this was the first site to publish the 'news' related to Elon Musk buying CNN.
Specifically, on October 18, Spacexmania published an article titled “There are rumors that Elon Musk is aiming to buy CNN: ‘I will revamp the media, one channel at a time’.” The article was categorized under “Satire,” with a statement that stories in this section “cannot be taken seriously,” and that “these articles are meant to be humorous, and are often made up.”
This fake news spreads rapidly, and each variant of it is more astonishing than the previous version. There was even a Facebook post claiming that Elon Musk agreed to buy CNN for 3 billion USD, a figure that did not appear in the satirical article by Spacexmania.
In reality, we are not sure where President Milei got the information from, whether he read it online or heard it from some source. In 2024, the relationship between President Milei and billionaire Elon Musk appears to be quite close. They have met a total of 3 times and have praised each other multiple times on social media. This may have made Mr. Milei's assertion more convincing.
The incident where President Milei shared information regarding Elon Musk's purchase of CNN is a goodwill gesture, showing that the Argentine President continues to support the American billionaire as well as the new term of the new President Donald Trump. His sincerity is real, however, the attached information is fake.
In reality, we are not sure where President Milei got the information from, whether he read it online or heard it from some source. In 2024, the relationship between President Milei and billionaire Elon Musk appears to be quite close. They have met a total of 3 times and have praised each other multiple times on social media. This may have made Mr. Milei's assertion more convincing.
The incident where President Milei shared information regarding Elon Musk's purchase of CNN is a goodwill gesture, showing that the Argentine President continues to support the American billionaire as well as the new term of the new President Donald Trump. His sincerity is real, however, the attached information is fake.
The effect of the message 'Musk buys CNN' spread strongly across the United States. Right after the election day, the Google search volume for this keyword surged. On the days of November 6 and November 8, the search volume increased by up to 80%, showing just how fast the spread of fake news can be.
This shows that internet users in the modern era must be extremely vigilant about the information online. The more widespread the information, the more we should verify whether it originates from the truth. The vast majority of fake news is very catchy, which can lead readers to hastily share it without caution.
