Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk is no stranger to controversy, but his latest move has sparked serious debate about the spread of disinformation.
According to United24 Media, the owner of X (formerly Twitter) and newly designated special government employee shared a fake video claiming that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) paid Hollywood celebrities to promote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The video falsely claims that American stars such as Angelina Jolie, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Orlando Bloom, Sean Penn, and Ben Stiller were given multi-million-dollar payments by USAID to boost Zelenskyy’s popularity among foreign audiences, particularly in the United States.
However, these claims have been debunked.
The celebrities mentioned have denied receiving any payments from USAID, and the media outlet cited as the original source, E! News, has never published such a report.
Russians Behind the Fake Video
According to Andrii Kovalenko, Head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation, the video is Russian-made disinformation.
In a statement on his Telegram channel, Kovalenko said that "the celebrities themselves have stated that this is false and that USAID never paid them." He also pointed out that the media outlet used as the supposed source does not have any such news, reinforcing the video’s lack of credibility.
The video is the latest example of false narratives spreading online about Ukraine and its allies. Russia has previously been accused of conducting large-scale disinformation campaigns to sow distrust and confusion about Western support for Ukraine.
The spread of this fake video comes just days after United24 Media debunked several claims made by Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News host, during a January 31 interview with Piers Morgan.
In response to Carlson’s statements, United24 Media published an article on February 3, correcting what it described as disinformation and misleading narratives about Ukraine.
