A rumor claiming tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said he bought Amazon -- the retail, media and technology company founded by fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos -- circulated online in late 2024. According to social media posts and YouTube videos, Musk supposedly said, "I just officially bought Amazon."
For example, on Nov. 15, 2024, a manager of the Elon Musk Rewind YouTube channel -- a long-running channel with over 366,000 subscribers frequently publishing content about Musk -- uploaded a video displaying the title, "Elon Musk Just BOUGHT Amazon & Ends All Competition!" As of Nov. 18, the clip had received numerous shares on X and at least tens of thousands of views, according to information provided by the Nepal-based Gazette Direct website.
As of Nov. 21, the link for the video showed the message, "This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated." Google or YouTube suspended the Elon Musk Rewind channel sometime between Nov. 18 and Nov. 21. We contacted Google to ask for more details about the alleged violations of the owner or owners of the channel and will update this story if we learn more.
A user generated the video's thumbnail image -- one purportedly showing Musk holding a contract for his Amazon deal -- with an artificial-intelligence (AI) tool.
This thumbnail image did not display an authentic picture of Musk.
Another YouTube video initially shared on Facebook also was no longer available. That clip's title showed in a Facebook post (archived) as, "Elon Musk: 'I Just Officially Bought Amazon!'" The link for that video also displayed the same message about account termination. We inquired with Google about the removal of that yet-unidentified channel, as well.
This AI-generated picture also did not show a genuine photo of Musk.
One user asked Musk on X (archived) about the Amazon rumor, "@elonmusk is this true? Good for you [and] congratulations if it is." Another person posted (archived), "I'm hearing a rumor that Elon Musk just bought Amazon." Facebook users also inquired about the matter, including one person who said (archived), "I'm watching a news report that Elon Musk just bought AMAZON. Is this true or is it AI?" Other Facebook and YouTube users also shared the same claim.
However, the rumor claiming Musk said he bought Amazon was false. We located no news reports or other credible information confirming anything about Musk buying the company.
Further, the users who created these clips used AI tools to generate not just their fake thumbnail images but also the audio narration. Additionally, they used AI to manage the clip selection and editing. Those users simply entered a text prompt as an order to one or more generative-AI tools to fully create the videos and thumbnail images.
For additional reading, we previously reported on other rumors claiming Musk bought various companies, including McDonald's, CNN, Ford and others.