Posts claiming Elon Musk has invested $1 billion or more “into Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg’s ‘un-woke’ film studio committed to traditional family values” are circulating on social media. But they aren’t true, and originated from a satirical website.

 

Several other fact checkers debunked similar claims earlier this year. Many of the posts use similar language to the headline in a satirical article, which said: “Breaking: Elon Musk Invests $1 Billion in Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg’s New Un-Woke Production Studio”.

The website this article appeared on describes itself as a “one-stop destination for satirical news and commentary about the United States of America” which is “dedicated to bringing you the latest and greatest in fake news and absurdity”.

The article page itself is also labeled “satire”.

Mel Gibson’s publicist previously told Reuters that he had not started a “non-woke” production studio. Full Fact has reached out to Mr Gibson and will update this article if we receive a response. We have also contacted Mr Musk for comment.

We have previously fact checked a number of articles and quotes that originated from satire websites but were later shared as if they were genuine, including one claiming Mr Musk agreed to buy CNN for $3 billion.

False information like this can spread quickly online—our toolkit provides tips for verifying this type of content yourself.