Fact Check: Elon Musk didn't fund robotic legs for injured police dogs
Claim:
Tech billionaire Elon Musk provided a "huge donation" to fund robotic legs for injured police dogs.
Rating:
A rumor that users circulated online in April 2025 claimed tech billionaire Elon Musk provided a "huge donation" to fund robotic legs for injured police dogs.
For example, numerous users on Facebook, Threads and X all shared the rumor, with most of their posts displaying at least one image supposedly showing Musk petting a German shepherd wearing a robotic leg. Some posts also displayed a second picture of Musk wearing a Tesla hat and holding two puppies. The posts featured the caption, "Elon Musk is a pup's best friend! His huge donation funded robotic legs for injured police dogs, letting one K9 chase criminals again — Musk's kindness has tails wagging!"
(Ira Kumari/Facebook)
Many of the Facebook pages and profiles featuring the story directed readers to find an article link in the comments below their posts. One such article, hosted on insightflowmedia.com, began:
Picture this: a courageous police dog, once sidelined by injury, now races through the streets, chasing down criminals with a renewed vigor. His secret weapon? A pair of sleek, high-tech robotic legs, funded by none other than Elon Musk—the billionaire innovator whose heart for humanity (and its four-legged heroes) knows no bounds. In a move that's set tails wagging across the globe, Musk's hypothetical donation to outfit injured K9s with cutting-edge prosthetics is redefining philanthropy, blending his signature tech-savvy brilliance with an unexpected dose of compassion. From police precincts to pet lovers' hearts, this initiative could mark a new chapter in Musk's legacy as a pup's best friend.
In this article, we'll explore how Elon Musk's visionary donation could transform the lives of injured police dogs, spotlight the technology behind these robotic legs, and unpack why this act of kindness is striking a chord worldwide. Get ready to dive into a story of #K9Heroes, #TechPaws, and the boundless possibilities when one man's generosity meets cutting-edge innovation.
However, Musk did not give a "huge donation" to fund robotic legs for injured police dogs. Searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo turned up no reporting about the matter from news media outlets. With Musk serving as an adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump at the time the posts circulated, such a story would certainly, at the very least, receive favorable coverage from conservative-political blogs. However, no conservative publishers reported the news. Further, the users and websites sharing the story displayed hints of inauthenticity, and the article's text and images that users shared with the posts featured signs someone generated the content with artificial-intelligence (AI) tools.
The article ended on a feel-good, inspiring tone. Publishers refer to such stories as glurge, a word defined by Dictionary.com as "stories, often sent by email, that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but which are often fabricated and sentimental."
Snopes contacted Musk via SpaceX and Tesla, two companies for which he serves as CEO, to ask if he wished to comment about the rumor but did not yet receive responses.
Scans of the article's full text from insightflowmedia.com — one of several websites hosting the false story — with the AI-detection websites Copyleaks, GPTZero and Undetectable AI found someone likely generated the story with an AI tool. Such AI-detection websites don't provide definitive conclusions but do offer a convincing data point when combining several of the tools' results.
Also, many of the Facebook users sharing the story featured feeds promoting other similarly unfounded or untrue stories. This strategy indicated goals of engagement and advertising revenue — or other end results — on the websites hosting the article. For example, upon loading the insightflowmedia.com article page, the website displayed advertisements but also quickly redirected, asking users to download potential malware.
As for the images, examining for example the one with the German shepherd, Musk's face resembled that of the tech billionaire but also did not match his current facial features. His left hand appeared larger than expected, as well. Also, the AI tool that created the fake photo attempted to depict Musk wearing a black shirt with a police badge and the word "Musk." Upon closer inspection, the shape of the badge was ill-formed and blank, and his name appeared illegibly displayed.
(Ira Kumari/Facebook)
In past examinations of similar rumors, AI-generated images featuring Musk depicted a man that looked somewhat like him, but also with small, indescribable differences in facial features. For example, previous AI-generated images of Musk circulated with untrue claims about him buying Amazon, Boeing and MSNBC.
"AI Content Detector." Copyleaks, https://copyleaks.com/ai-content-detector.
"AI Detector & AI Checker for ChatGPT & More." Undetectable AI, https://undetectable.ai/.
"Glurge." Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/glurge.
GPTZero. https://app.gptzero.me/.
Huberman, Bond, and David Emery. "Snopestionary: What Does 'Glurge' Mean?" Snopes, 21 Aug. 2021, https://www.snopes.com//articles/363643/what-does-glurge-mean/.
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