On February 2, 2021, a clickbait page Gifsat.com spread news about Neuralink, an Elon Musk company, installing a chip in a monkey’s brain, titled: “’We have installed a chip in a monkey, and now it is time for humans…’ – Elon Musk”. However, there is no full version of the quote given in the title. The text, published on Gifsat, includes other quotes by Musk, where the popular engineer and scientist explains the condition of the monkey, involved in the experiment. Gifsat indicates Business Insider as the source of the news.
A Facebook page „დედოფალი“ (Queen) also connected the installation of the chip in the monkey’s brain to subjugating humans. The page shared a link of a Russian edition spzh.news (“Союз православных журналистов” – Union of Orthodox Journalists) with the following caption: “Tomorrow they will install [it] in a human and voilà – if you can program a game in a monkey, you can make humans do whatever you want”.
Gifsat.com spreads the information about the installation of the chip in the monkey’s brain with a misleading title and connects the implant of the monkey with humans. The quote, allegedly belonging to Elon Musk, used by the edition, is fake. Such quote also could not be found in the article, named by the edition as the source. The clickbait page therefore strengthens conspiracies connected to inserting chips in humans.
According to Business Insider, Musk stated about a successful installation of a chip in the monkey’s brain in his January 31 interview with Good Time Show. He claimed that the monkey has a wireless device in the skull, and using it, he can play videogames in his mind. Musk noted that currently his company Nuralink is trying to improve the technology in such a way that would allow monkeys to play table tennis with each other using the technology, installed in their brains. As the business magnate mentioned, monkey is in good spirits, and he will publish the videos showing the monkey, but he has not given any other explanations about the implantation.
The title by Gifsat.com resembles the one by Business Insider, but the final part of the title, displayed by the Georgian clickbait page, is edited to create a perception that Musk spoke about humans as well, besides the monkey:
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Title by Business Insider |
Title by Gifsat.com |
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“Elon Musk says Neuralink implanted a chip in a monkey’s brain, and now he ‘can play video games using his mind” |
“We have installed a chip in a monkey, and now it is time for humans…” |
About the Neuralink’s project
Elon Musk’s company first stated about creating a brain implant on August 28, 2020. At an online-presentation, Elon Musk presented to the audience a pig, Gertrude, who was carrying an implant manufactured by Neuralink. He initially spoke out about working on such technology in June 2019 and noted that if computer-based implants were to be created, people with damaged nervous systems or motor function problems could benefit from them, as the technology would allow the human mind to connect to various devices and run them using telepathy. However, the given technology is currently only being tested on animals, and Musk has not spoken about implanting it in humans.
Dissemination of the Gifsat.com article
As of February 4, 2021, the link to Gifsat.com article was shared in seven public groups: “uMedia“, “ექსკლუზივი“(Exclusive), “ქართული ჯგუფი“(Georgian group), “გართობა ツ“(Fun ツ), “პოზიტიური სამყარო“(Positive universe), “გახარიას ფანები“(Fans of Gakharia), “მიშას ფანები“(Fans of Misha). The link was shared by 58 users. Moreover, the descriptions of the shared posts on Facebook also mainly featured the title by Gifstat.com.
It is noteworthy that the clickbait page Gifsat.com also featured in a February 1 article by Myth Detector. The website was involved in a smear campaign targeting Iveri Melashvili together with other clickbait pages. The investigation by Myth Detector revealed that the IP address of the page is located in Moscow.
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