Rumor claims Musk donated $800K to help storm victims repair their homes. Here’s what we know

A rumor Facebook users circulated in March and April 2025 claimed tech billionaire Elon Musk, an adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, donated $800,000 to help storm victims repair their homes.

Users shared and discussed this rumor as tornadoes and violent winds struck the Midwest and South in early April, while millions of people remained under severe weather advisories for potential record-setting rain and life-threatening flash floods.

For example, on March 30, the manager of a popular Facebook profile named Sense posted (archived), in part, “Elon Musk Donates $800,000 to Help Residents Repair Homes After Storms, Supporting Community Recovery.” The post featured a link leading to an article on a WordPress blog simply named, “My WordPress Blog.” Other Facebook users also shared the same rumor with posts including links to the same article published on other websites.

The image read, “Elon Musk Gifts $800,000 to Help Residents Repair Homes After Storms.” (Sense/Facebook)

However, we uncovered no evidence suggesting Musk — recently or in the past — donated the specific amount of $800,000 to storm victims. Searches of Musk’s X feed, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo produced no credible results helping to confirm the rumor. At the same time, Musk’s companies and his foundation have made contributions to storm victims, as detailed later in this article.

The in-question WordPress blog article displayed signs of being generated with an artificial-intelligence tool, according to scans with the AI-detection websites Copyleaks, GPTZero, QuillBot and Scribbr. Someone also created the above post’s image with an AI tool. One of several signs of an AI-generated picture is extra fingers on a subject’s hand; Musk’s left hand displayed six fingers.

The article featured no information about when or where Musk made the purported $800,000 donation, nor did the story’s author specify the people who benefitted from the contribution. The owner or owners of the websites hosting the article, which displayed numerous ads earning them revenue, sought to seize on and validate the beliefs of conservative U.S. users. For example, the aforementioned Facebook account featured a page transparency tab identifying its manager as residing in North Macedonia — a country associated with disinformation efforts in the 2016 and 2020 U.S. presidential elections.

Other Facebook posts promoted similar made-up rumors potentially featuring AI-generated elements, including for example “Elon Musk’s $300M Stunner: Homes for the Needy!,” “Elon Musk’s Ultimate Generosity: $55 Million to Build Homes for the Poor!” and “Elon Musk’s Secret Plan: $5 Billion to Build Homes for Hurricane Victims!”

Representatives for SpaceX, Tesla and the White House did not yet respond to requests for comment about this matter, specifically asking whether Musk donated $800,000 to storm victims. A manager of the Sense Facebook profile did not answer questions about the purpose of their efforts.

Musk’s genuine contributions to storm victims

There are genuine stories of Musk’s generosity to storm victims and other causes.

On Oct. 7, 2024, the New Orleans-based nonprofit disaster recovery organization SBP reported receiving (archived) a $2.4 million grant from Musk’s Musk Foundation to aid storm victims following Hurricane Helene. The genuine $2.4 million donation was triple the $800,000 figure from the made-up story.

Following a volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga in January 2022, Musk’s SpaceX, a company for which he serves as CEO, helped restore (archived) some of the island nation’s internet services.

Also, on Oct. 26, 2017, the World Economic Forum reported about Musk’s efforts involving Tesla, where he also serves as CEO, contributing (archived) its Powerwall battery storage technology to bring electricity back to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in September 2017.

Inside Philanthrophy (archived) published details of other Musk Foundation contributions, including $5 million to COVID-19 vaccine research and diagnostic tools, $50 million to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and $480,000 for water in Flint, Michigan. Even so, The New York Times reported in December 2024 that the foundation failed to meet a standard of donating at least 5% of its assets for three consecutive years.

The Musk Foundation and SBP did not yet respond to requests for comment, in particular asking the foundation about its contributions to storm victims and asking SBP for more details about the $2.4 million grant.

Sources:

“About Us.” SBP, https://www.sbpusa.org/about-us/.

“AI Content Detector.” QuillBot, https://quillbot.com/ai-content-detector.

“AI Detector.” Scribbr, https://www.scribbr.com/ai-detector/.

“AI Detector & Content Checker | No Login Required.” Copyleaks, https://copyleaks.com/ai-content-detector.

Collins, Ben, and Brandy Zadrozny. “Troll Farms from North Macedonia and the Philippines Pushed Coronavirus Disinformation on Facebook.” NBC News, 29 May 2020, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/troll-farms-macedonia-philippines-pushed-coronavirus-disinformation-facebook-n1218376.

Emery, David, and Jessica Lee. “4 Tips for Spotting AI-Generated Pics.” Snopes, 16 Apr. 2023, https://www.snopes.com//articles/464595/artificial-intelligence-media-literacy/.

Fahrenthold, David A., and Theodore Schleifer. “Musk’s Foundation Gave Away Less Money Than Required in 2023.” The New York Times, 12 Dec. 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/us/politics/musk-foundation-taxes-donations.html.

Galeon, Dom. “Tesla Is Bringing Power Back to Puerto Rico’s Hospitals.” World Economic Forum (WEF), 26 Oct. 2017, https://www.weforum.org/stories/2017/10/tesla-is-bringing-power-back-to-puerto-ricos-hospitals/.

GPTZero. https://app.gptzero.me/.

Hughes, Heather C., and Israel Waismel-Manor. “The Macedonian Fake News Industry and the 2016 US Election.” PS: Political Science & Politics, vol. 54, no. 1, Jan. 2021, pp. 19–23. Cambridge University Press, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096520000992.

“Musk Foundation.” MuskFoundation.org, https://www.muskfoundation.org/.

“—.” Inside Philanthropy, https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/find-a-grant/grants-m/musk-foundation.

Perry, Nick, and David Rising. “Musk Helping Restore Tongan Internet; Virus Outbreak Growing.” The Associated Press, 9 Feb. 2022, https://apnews.com/article/spacex-technology-business-volcanic-eruptions-tonga-22f9378648323c0b5bfe6eeef774da7b.

SBP. “Musk Foundation Donates $2.4 Million to Support SBP’s Multi-State Hurricane Helene Recovery Efforts in the Wake of Epic Destruction.” SBP, 7 Oct. 2024, https://www.sbpusa.org/blog/musk-foundation-donates-2-4-million-to-support-sbp/.