Elon Musk called out for sharing fake 'picture of UK hospital' - but its origin is far stranger

Elon Musk found himself in the middle of a very awkward case of 'blatant' misinformation by sharing an image of what he seemingly believed was disorder at a UK hospital.

An X account that goes by the name Basil the Great shared an image of hooded men wielding axes while storming a hospital building. The image was accompanied by a false breaking news announcement, with the alarm emoji for added impact.

“Image released of the migrant mob that stormed Birmingham hospital armed with axes and blades,” the post read. “The story was largely buried on mainstream media. If ‘the far right’ had done it this story would be everywhere.

“The UK is on life support, we need a new government.”

The post caught the attention of Musk, who has increasingly commented on UK affairs on his social media platform X. “What happened here?” he said, quoting the post.

The fake news announcement purportedly showed unrest at a UK hospitalX

However several X users were quick to flag that the image was actually a screenshot from The Dark Knight Rises, the 2012, Christopher Nolan Batman film.

The original post has been removed but a community note can still be seen. This feature allows vetted X users to add context or certify facts for potentially misleading posts on the platform. It is unclear if the X user deleted the false, misleading post or if it was removed.

“Nothing happened, all the pictures and videos referred to in the post were confirmed as fake,” the community note reads.

The original post has been removed but the community note is still visibleX

X users also called out Musk for engaging with a post that was clearly fake news - and from a Batman movie. “What happened is you retweeted a post that was blatant misinformation,” said an individual on X. “The photo is a screenshot from The Dark Knight Rises.”

“The picture is from The Dark Knight Rises,” another social media user warned.

West Midlands police released a statement regarding the false image. They confirmed that a 16-year-old boy was stabbed in Birmingham on Saturday (15 February) however the tweet and the Dark Knight Rises screenshot used to report on a non-existent uprising at a local hospital was obviously fake.

“Following enquiries, we know that no disorder took place at any hospital in Birmingham following the stabbing of a 16-year-old boy,” the statement begins.

“We have confirmed this with officers who were in attendance, ambulance officials, and hospital staff who were on duty at the time.

After investigating, we have found that the boy's family, along with community members close to him, gathered at the hospital and were understandably upset and concerned with his welfare. There was no disorder.

“Any claims of ambulances being raided or looted are untrue.

“While images being shared on social media which claim to show people carrying weapons at a hospital are fake.

“Thankfully, boy’s condition has improved and he is now stable.”

Elon Musk’s growing interest in UK politics and affairs

Getty Images

The tech billionaire and leader of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has found the time to comment on UK affairs in recent months. He was critical in calling out the government’s handling of child sexual exploitation more than a decade ago in towns and cities across the country.

However, Musk was also called out by health secretary Wes Streeting for making “misinformed” and “misjudged” comments about the UK government’s response to grooming gangs in the UK.

Musk and Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform Party, were once on good terms and Farage claimed the Tesla boss was in talks to provide the party with a donation late last year. However Musk said Farage should be replaced.

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