In an embarrassing development for Fortune magazine, an anonymous user revealed how they tricked the magazine into publishing false claims about Elon Musk and social media platform X. The incident sparked a broader debate about media credibility and fact-checking practices.
The controversy arose after Fortune magazine published an article on January 9th titled, “Elon Musk pushes to remove dates from X posts, plans new $8 registration fee.” It has begun. The article cites “sources” and claims that Musk intended to remove date stamps from X’s posts and introduce a fee for account creation.
However, soon after the article was published, it was exposed as a hoax. An anonymous user who provided information to Fortune accused X and admitted to fabricating the story to highlight the media’s gullibility.
“Fortune published an article based on false information that I sent from an anonymous email address,” the user wrote in the thread. “They didn’t even bother to check the details.”
The user revealed that he was posing as a disgruntled employee of X, claiming he was fired by Mr. Musk for objecting to the purported removal of the date stamp. They also shared screenshots of their email exchanges with Fortune correspondent Kaylee Hayes on “X.” He called this the “ultimate trick” and explained how he got involved with Hayes by weaving this fabricated story.
“They trusted me to publish false information. I’m just a random guy on the internet, but they claimed the information came from their ‘source’. Continued,” the user added.
In the aftermath, Fortune was forced to retract the article and issue an apology. In a statement, the magazine acknowledged that the sourcing “did not meet editorial standards” and apologized to Musk, Company X employees and readers.
Following the revelation, Fortune retracted the article and published an apology on its website titled “Correction.” “On January 9, Fortune published an article titled ‘Elon Musk pushes to remove dates from X posts, plans new $8 registration fee.'” After publication, Fortune published , I learned that the person at the center of this article intentionally misled the reporter through a series of interactions. The story has been removed because the source and story do not meet editorial standards. We apologize to our readers, Mr. Musk, and the employees of Company X. ”
Musk, a vocal critic of mainstream media and a champion of citizen journalism, said in response to the incident at X, “That’s legacy media to you.”
The anonymous user made it clear that their goal was not to damage X’s reputation, but rather to expose vulnerabilities in the way mainstream media vets X’s articles. “This shows how naive they are and how easily fooled they can be,” they concluded.
