Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has sparked a series of false claims online about changes he’s made to the company.
An Oct. 29 Facebook video claims to show Musk firing Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top legal and policy executive, while live on a talk show.
“Elon Musk fires Twitter's Chief Legal Officer and Policy Chief Vijaya Gadde ON AIR!” reads the video's caption. The post was shared more than 100 times and was viewed more than 9,000 times in less than a week.
The video originated on Twitter, where it was retweeted more than 20,000 times. Four versions of the video on TikTok racked up more than 300,000 views.
But the video is altered. Musk did fire Gadde, but it didn’t happen live on air, as the post claims. The video is comprised of clips from two different episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience – one from 2018 and another from 2019. The audio of Musk purportedly saying, “Failure comes with a big penalty. You’re fired,” is digitally edited, according to an audio expert.
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the claim for comment. The Twitter user who first shared the video later clarified it was meant to be a parody.
There is no way the video could show Musk recently firing Gadde, since it is comprised of clips from Musk’s appearance on Rogan’s show in 2018 and Gadde’s appearance on the show in 2019. Both videos can be found...
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