Ridiculous Elon Musk death hoax trends on Twitter, gets debunked quickly

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk lately ended up on the receiving end of what could only be described as one of the stupidest departure hoaxes in recent memory. On Friday, March 5, 2021, the #ripelon hashtag trended on social media, leading to much confusion and aggravation among Twitter users. Luckily, the rumor was debunked immediately, with Elon Musk himself rolling his eyes and laughing out loud on Twitter as a result.

The #ripelon hashtag trended as images of alleged accounts concerning Musk’s passing from an explosion in a Tesla battery factory were shared online. The images featured what seemed to be screenshots from legitimate websites, both foreign and local. An alleged message for Tesla shareholders in the company’s “PR Team” also disperse online, allegedly confirming the accounts.

A sample of alleged “reports” on the current hoax. (Credit: Twitter)
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Needless to saythe rumors were quickly debunked, although not until a substantial number of social media users “celebrated” the “news” over their dislike of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. Members of the electric car community weighed , with some noting that the rumor does not make sense thinking about the nature of lithium-ion batteries. The Elon Musk departure hoax became so prominent that fact-checking agency Snopes published a report clearly indicating that the rumors were false.

We're not exactly sure why people started to disperse a death hoax about Elon Musk, however he's not dead — and screenshots of posts saying so are imitation. 🤷‍♂️ https://t.co/Zr3YJO8wPL

— snopes.com (@snopes) March 5, 2021

Finally, Elon Musk himself posted what seemed to be a response to this hashtag on his Twitter account. The CEO’s initial post was brief, comprising merely a rolling eyes emoji. Musk later posted a couple of laughing emojis for a response to a Twitter user poking fun at the situation, who found that the CEO was hacking Musk’s accounts on the day that he “literally expired. ”

🤣🤣

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 6, 2021

The motives behind the short-lived Elon Musk death hoax on social media remain unknown for today, though the #ripelon hashtag did appear to be a quite extensive effort by net trolls. Other social media users speculated that the hoax could have been an attempt to influence TSLA stock considering its recent volatility. Interestingly enough, TSLA stock did fall almost 6 percent within an hour of the hoax’so disperse.

Finally, the death hoax is unsurprising considering the CEO’s polarizing figure. For now, at least, electric vehicle advocates, space enthusiasts, and Musk’s other supporters could rest assure that the ill-intentioned hoax was killed off as fast as it arrived.

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The article Ridiculous Elon Musk departure hoax tendencies on Twitter, gets debunked quickly appeared initially on TESLARATI.

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