Fact Check: Did Elon Musk announce MSNBC acquisition for $900 million?
AUSTIN, TEXAS: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been in the headlines recently as his electric vehicle company faced vandalism following Musk's decisions at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
His company's share prices has also seen a dip in the stock market lately.
Amid this, a new rumor circulated online claiming that Elon Musk had announced the acquisition of MSNBC for $900 million to put an end to "toxic programming". But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.
Claim: Elon Musk announced MSNBC acquisition for $900 million
In March 2025, a rumor circulated online claiming that the tech-billionaire had announced he had acquired the MSNBC cable news network for $900 million.
As per the claim, Musk purchased the cable news network with the stated goal of ending its "toxic programming", according to Snopes.
A Facebook page posted on March 22, "7 MINUTES AGO: Elon Musk announced that he has acquired MSNBC for $900 million to put an end to toxic programming."
Moreover, the post had a picture of Musk with the words "GAME OVER!" showing him holding a paper that read, "Contract signed with MSNBC."
Elon Musk announced that he has acquired MSNBC for $900 million to put an end to toxic programming.? pic.twitter.com/cUyB5OHQp2
— Jennifer Jenkins (@jenkinswarpony) March 20, 2025
An article was also linked to the post that displayed the same text as the post in its headline and claimed Musk posted about the acquisition on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
The rumor was further shared on other social media platforms such as Bluesky, Instagram, and X.
False: Elon Musk did not make any such announcement
The claims made in the online rumor are false as the tech-billionaire did not make any such announcement on X or any other social media platform, according to Snopes.
Moreover, no credible news media outlets around the world reported on any such major development, per the fact-checking outlet.
Furthermore, AI-detection websites CopyLeaks, GPTZero, and QuillBot determined that most of the texts in the article were generated using Artificial Intelligence.
Meanwhile, other fact-checking websites such as Check Your Fact and Lead Stories also reported the rumor to be false.
News outlet ProPublica also reported in February about a different post containing the same rumor and similar imagery,
The outlet reported that someone used an AI tool to generate the purported photo of Musk holding the MSNBC contract, per the outlet.
Elon Musk criticized MSNBC following Trump's reelection win
Elon Musk might not have purchased MSNBC but he had earlier posted about the news network. In October 2024, he called the network "utter scum of the Earth."
Similarly, after Trump's 2024 election win, Musk said, "Now MSNBC is going down."
He also commented on an article published by the satirical website Babylon Bee that read, "Musk Announces Plan To Buy MSNBC And Turn It Into A News Network."
Musk commented about the satirical story, "Crazy idea, but it just might work!" and added a laughing emoji.
