Fact Check: Did Elon Musk once tweet about working 16 hours a day and being called lucky?
BOCA CHICA, TEXAS: After reaching the trillionaire milestone, a claim began circulating on social media platforms that Elon Musk once tweeted about being called lucky despite working 16 hours a day, sparking mockery and criticism. Let us analyze the purported tweet and fact-check its authenticity.
Claim: Elon Musk once tweeted about being called 'lucky' despite working 16 hours a day
The claim spread in the form of a screenshot showing a tweet on X, back then called Twitter, from 2020 by Musk, who apparently wrote, “Working 16 hours a day, 7 day's a week, 52 week's in year and people still calling me lucky.”
According to the screenshot, the alleged tweet has been liked by almost five million users, along with more than half a million retweets and two hundred thousand comments.
The screenshot has sparked speculations among many who are skeptical about its authenticity, while some appear to believe it.
Fact Check: Elon Musk made no such tweet
The screenshot is fabricated, as Musk never made such a tweet. A search of his official X account for the viral tweet showed no post that matched the text.
Moreover, the user ID seen in the screenshot is "@emusk," which does not exist on the platform. The tech mogul's actual ID is "@elonmusk."
A fact check by Grok stated, “This is a fake tweet. The screenshot shared by @abhijitwtshows a fabricated post from a nonexistent ‘@emusk' account (Elon's real handle is @elonmusk)."
"It contains obvious grammar errors like unnecessary apostrophes (‘week's,’ ‘day's’) that Elon wouldn't make, and community notes on the post confirm it's not legitimate,” it added.
Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire
The screenshot surfaced after Musk reached the trillionaire milestone, after SpaceX shares surged following the company's IPO.
The stock opened above its initial offering price and climbed to $150 per share after debuting at $135, and the rally added hundreds of billions of dollars to Musk's net worth and widened the gap between him and every other wealthy individual on the planet.
According to estimates cited on Friday, June 12, Musk's fortune stood at approximately $1.2 trillion, which placed him far ahead of Google co-founder Larry Page, whose estimated net worth was listed at $295 billion.
