No, Elon Musk didn't post 'cool' image of himself behind Oval Office desk | Fact check

The claim: Image shows Elon Musk posted 'cool' image of himself sitting at Oval Office desk

A Dec. 19 Threads post (direct link, archive link) shows what appears to be an X post from Elon Musk that includes an image of him sitting at the president's desk in the Oval Office while President-elect Donald Trump stands next to him.

"Cool," reads the text of the purported post by Musk.

The caption on the Threads post reads, "What’s hilarious about this is that this is exactly how Musk operates. He buys the thing, then removes the creators or founders of said thing and sets himself up as the inventor, founder, mastermind or genius behind the thing he just used his generational wealth to buy."

The post was liked 1,400 times in four days. Other versions of the claim circulated on X and Facebook.

More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

Our rating: Altered

The image of the X post is a fabrication. There is no record of the post on Musk's account.

Social media users spread fabricated Musk post

The purported post doesn't appear on Musk's X profile. And there are no credible news reports about Musk, a strident Trump supporter who has been tapped by the president-elect to lead a new governmental efficiency commission, making the post.

The image of the purported post also includes a view count – 2.8 million – and engagement numbers that are identical in multiple versions of the image circulating on social media. This supports the likelihood that the image is a fabrication that traces to a single source. Had Musk made the post, it likely would have been captured and shared with varying views and engagement numbers by some of his more than 200 million followers.

Fact check: No, Elon Musk didn't post defending insurance companies after CEO shooting

The image of Musk and Trump in the fabricated X post has also been digitally manipulated. Trump previously shared the original image in a Truth Social post on July 12, 2022. It shows Trump seated behind the Oval Office desk with Musk at his side, not the other way around.

The fabricated Musk post appears to play into a line of criticism from Democrats and other Trump critics that suggests Musk has more influence over the Republican Party than Trump.

"President-elect Musk is really setting down the marker of how he wants to run his administration," former GOP Rep. Adam Adam Kinzinger wrote in a Dec. 18 X post. "VP Trump better pay attention."

USA TODAY has debunked an array of social media claims involving fabricated Musk posts, including false claims that an image shows a Musk post threatening to suspend social media users who mock him, that an image shows a Musk post defending insurance companies after the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO and that an image shows a Musk post defending CEOs after the killing.

USA TODAY reached out to Threads user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Our fact-check sources

• Elon Musk, accessed Dec. 20, X profile

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.

USA TODAY is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fabricated image shows Musk sitting at Oval Office desk | Fact check