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Scammers use Elon Musk to advertise on Facebook and Instagram Scammers use Elon Musk to advertise on Facebook and Instagram

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Scammers use Elon Musk’s face to advertise on Facebook and Instagram

Credit: JC

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Scammers are using doctored videos and images of Elon Musk to advertise on Facebook and Instagram. Meta, Facebook, nor Instagram are doing anything to stop these out-of-control scammers.

Hopefully, that will change. Probably not.

Busted!

Andrea Stroppa, former contributor to the World Economic Forum, and cyber security researcher focusing on digital communication, social media, and research, shared what he found. He also shared his thoughts with me.

In a Twitter thread, Andrea pointed out that both Facebook and Instagram have a major problem. Both social media networks allow hundreds of sponsored posts that link to scams.

These scammers are using the name and face of Elon Musk with fake interviews or fake endorsements.

“In the past three days, this page created 20 different ads on Facebook and Instagram with a video of Elon Musk that suggested investing in a crypto platform. It’s a scam,” Andrea tweeted.

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Andrea found that these scammers also use verified Facebook pages to advertise on the Meta apps. These verified pages are most likely hacked.

Elon Musk, SpaceX, and Tesla are used in these scams.

The scammers don’t limit themselves to verified pages, but they also have recently created pages with fewer than ten thousand followers that are given the green light by Facebook to advertise.

Elon Musk isn’t the only one these scammers are using to advertise their scams. They also use the logos of both Tesla and SpaceX.

And they use the power of the Meta Business Suite to target specific users for countries, ages, sex, and other variables.

Analyzing Fraudulent Ads on Facebook And Instagram

Andrea said that his team analyzed the fraudulent ads on these platforms that were related to counterfeit products for a particular target audience.

What he found instead were these scams which, he added, are very likely the top of the iceberg. These scams have a common pattern.

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In my opinion, Facebook doesn’t seem to care about stopping it. As long as they get their money, they seem to be just fine with the scams. If not, then they would put an end to the scams. Right?

Perhaps someone at Meta will read that and prove me wrong.

Austrian Office of Taipei hacked

Credit: Andrea Stroppa

Andrea’s team even found a government page involved with the scams. He shared a screenshot of the Austrian Office Taipei’s post claiming “Tesla’s latest project shocks the world and the bank is in shock.”

Fortunately, the Austrian Office of Taipei was able to recover their account and posted a statement about being hacked.

However, all of their content posted between August 2021 and May 2022 was deleted.

“We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the scammers. We have done all we can to make sure that nobody is able anymore to abuse our page.”

“As of today, we will return in the usual manner to inform you about our activities in Taiwan, inform you about Austria in all its aspects, such as culture, as a travel destination, its economy and businesses, science and innovation, sustainability and many other areas.”

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“Thank you so much for your support. The Team of the Austrian Office Taipei.”

Elon Musk & Meta’s users are victims of negligence

Andrea called on Andrew Bosworth (Boz) the Chief Technology Officer at Meta and

Adam Mosseri, the Head of Instagram to be serious about the moderation of ads on these networks.

“Elon Musk and your users are both victims of scammers and your negligence. Fix it now.”

In a statement to Teslarati, Andrea Stroppa said,

“No doubt that Elon Musk is not just one of the best entrepreneurs of his generation but even a formidable capital allocator. That’s why many people want to listen to his bits of advice.”

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“But all these ads appearing on Facebook and Instagram with potential investments are scams.”

“Looking at these malicious ads, there are many common patterns, keywords, and media content. Facebook has the technical skills to reduce the magnitude of these damaging activities. But they don’t.”

 

 

Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge writer covering Tesla, Elon Musk, EVs, and clean energy & supports Tesla's mission. Johnna also interviewed Elon Musk and you can listen here

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FAA kicks off review of SpaceX’s bid to fly Starship nearly every day

FAA is reviewing SpaceX’s plan for 456 Starship launches a year, up from 25 today.

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Rendering of Elon Musk overlooking a Starship fleet (Credit: Grok)

The FAA said Tuesday that it will prepare an environmental impact statement on SpaceX’s proposal to run as many as 456 Starship launches and 912 landings a year from Starbase, Texas. SpaceX is currently authorized for 25 launches and 50 landings annually, which makes the request roughly 18 times the existing ceiling. The notice of intent is set to publish in the Federal Register on Wednesday.

The plan comes in two phases. Phase 1 would allow up to 100 launches and 200 landings a year, on any day and at any hour. Phase 2, which the FAA says could arrive within several years, would raise the limit to the full 456 launches, still at any hour but only on weekdays. The agency noted that 912 landings is the upper limit for the Texas facility no matter where a given mission begins, and that Starship and Super Heavy could come down at the launch site or in the Gulf and open ocean.

A draft statement will be released for public comment at a later date, and the FAA has not said when. According to the Federal Registar, written comments are due November 30 on regulations.gov under docket FAA-2026-12808, with in person scoping meetings on November 17 in Brownsville and November 19 in Port Isabel, plus a virtual session on November 18. The review will weigh air quality, wildlife, coastal resources, water, noise, and aviation, and the FAA said any increase beyond this proposal would need its own separate review.

The numbers look large next to what Starbase has actually done. Starship has flown three times from Texas this year, including Flight 14 on September 28, the first orbital flight, which deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites. Bloomberg reported that Starbase has never launched more than five times in a calendar year. The current cap of 25 comes from an FAA approval in May 2025. In February, the agency also approved up to 44 Starship launches a year from Launch Complex 39A in Florida, so Phase 1 in Texas alone would more than double that allowance.

Musk has said Starship could eventually fly more than once per hour within less than a decade, per Bloomberg. The nearer term target is Flight 15. Musk said on October 10 that it is hopefully four to six weeks away and will try to catch the ship with the tower, as Teslarati covered. That flight still runs under the existing 25 launch limit, and so would every Starbase launch for as long as the new review takes.

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As of mid morning Pacific time on Tuesday, SpaceX had not posted about the filing on its own account.

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Tesla Roadster livestream: everything Tesla has revealed before Thursday night

Tesla will stream the Roadster event Thursday at 7:55 p.m. Central. Here is what’s known.

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Concept rendering of a Tesla Roadster with SpaceX Package via Grok

Tesla will stream its next generation Roadster event live this Thursday, October 15, at 7:55 p.m. Central, according to a post from the official Tesla account shared late Monday. Texas is on daylight time, and outlets have read the post as local Central time, which puts the Tesla Roadster livestream at 8:55 p.m. Eastern and 5:55 p.m. Pacific. The stream is expected on Tesla’s X account, where the announcement went up.

This is the second date for the event. Tesla posted a “Go for launch” image on September 12 that set the unveil for October 1, and invitations sent to reservation holders placed it in Waco, Texas, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern, for guests 21 and older with tickets that could not be transferred. Until this week, Tesla had not said the event would be broadcast at all.

On September 28, Tesla moved the event to October 15, citing severe weather and the fact that the demo can only be held outdoors. Elon Musk then said the cause was high winds, a comment that pushed speculation that the car will leave the ground on stage.

The event will be held in Waco, which sits close to SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site, where the FAA closed airspace up to 10,000 feet from September 18 through October 2 for the original date. Another restriction covering Wednesday, October 14, has been reported near the site, which could mean a rehearsal, though that is unconfirmed.

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What Tesla will actually show comes from speculative reports that the vehicle will be unmanned, and spectators will be kept several hundred yards back for safety. A SpaceX package is reportedly code named A71, and linked to what Musk has hinted at in the past – thrusters that could bring 0 to 60 mph down to about one second, compared with the 1.9 seconds quoted for the base car in 2017. Tesla also closed its Semi event with a Roadster teaser suggesting a design that looks different from the original prototype, and has said the event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets.

The 2017 figures remain the only official ones: 620 miles of range, a top speed above 250 mph, and prices of $200,000 for the base car and $250,000 for the Founders Series. Tesla reopened reservations last month with a $5,000 card payment followed by a $45,000 wire within ten days, and the deposit is refundable. Production is expected at Giga Texas in 2027 or 2028.

Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21, six days after the stream, so whatever price or timeline appears Thursday night will land just ahead of that call.

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SpaceX just combined Grok, Cursor, and X into one mega plan

SpaceXSI merges Grok, Cursor, and X Premium into one plan, raising questions for Tesla owners.

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SpaceX Super Intelligence has rolled out The X Subscription, a single plan that combines Grok, Grok Bot, Cursor, and X Premium.

There are five levels, including a free plan that includes daily Grok access and a starter allowance for Cursor’s coding agents. Plus is $8 per month, Premium is $30, Super is $100, and Ultra is $200. Usage scales as you move up, with Premium offering four times the Plus allowance, Super 15 times, and Ultra 50 times. Annual billing brings the prices down a bit further, with Premium at $300 per year.

The $30 Premium tier is where SpaceXSI says it packs the benefits of SuperGrok, Cursor Pro, and X Premium+, which previously added up to $90 per month. Grok Bot, the agent that handles tasks like ordering food or managing a calendar, is included from Premium upward but not on Plus. Paid plans share one weekly usage pool across Grok and Cursor, and each plan includes at least twice the coding usage of the comparable Cursor plan. Third party models in Cursor remain available on Premium and above, but they are billed separately at API list prices.

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That last detail matters because of what has happened around Cursor this year. SpaceX exercised its option to buy the company for $60 billion in June, and the deal closed in August. Weeks later, OpenAI said it will cut Cursor’s access to its models on November 12. Bundling Cursor with Grok usage gives SpaceXSI a reason to steer developers toward its own models.

Tesla integrates Grok Bot into its vehicles for the ultimate personal assistant

For Tesla owners, the connection is Grok Bot. Tesla brought it into its vehicles last month, and at that point access inside the car was limited to SuperGrok Heavy subscribers. Grok Bot is now enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet. Neither SpaceXSI nor Tesla has said how the new plans change inside the car access for owners, or whether a $30 Premium subscription now covers Grok Bot in a personal Tesla. That is the question owners will want answered first.

The company is also changing its name along the way. The rollout follows the rebrand Musk announced on October 4, when he said SpaceXAI would become SpaceXSI, and the plan page now carries that branding.

The X Subscription is available to new customers starting now, and SpaceXSI says it will reach everyone globally over the next few days. Existing SuperGrok, Cursor, and X Premium subscribers do not have to switch. The option to move will appear gradually in billing settings, with a prorated refund for the unused time on the old plan. Switching is permanent once the accounts are unified, and old plans are closed to new sign ups.

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