As rescue workers continued to search for missing people following deadly flash flooding in Texas, posts that circulated on Facebook in July 2025 claimed tech billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated millions to help victims.
Posts sharing the claim read, in part:
As Texas faced a devastating flood disaster that claimed the lives of at least 51 people, including 15 children, billionaire Elon Musk stunned the world by donating $7 million to help the victims and families of those still missing in the devastating floods.
The posts displayed an image of Musk alongside images of what appeared to be flooding and resulting debris in Texas. Snopes readers emailed us and searched our website to ask whether Musk really donated $7 million to help victims of the Texas floods.
However, the claim was false. We found no credible evidence that Musk donated $7 million to aid Texas flood victims.
The Facebook posts directed users to a website that was flagged as suspicious on a Snopes reporter's laptop. Our attempts to access the purported article about Musk's donation redirected us to websites that appeared to promote unrelated products or services.
Furthermore, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no news media outlets reporting about Musk's purported donation to Texas flood victims. If the rumor were true, prominent news outlets likely would have reported it.
Snopes emailed Tesla's press office and will update this story if we receive a response.
The images that circulated alongside the rumor about Musk's donation appeared to be generated using artificial intelligence, AI detection platforms Hive and Sightengine found, though these platforms are not always accurate. The image that appeared to show Musk also included visible signs of AI generation, such as smooth facial features.
(Hive AI Detector)
The rumor about Musk closely resembled other false stories about celebrities donating large sums of money or assisting with relief efforts in Texas, many of which appeared alongside AI-generated content. For example, Snopes debunked claims about musician Eric Clapton paying for victims' funeral expenses and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes donating $1.5 million to a relief fund for victims.
Musk's satellite internet service Starlink did announce on July 5, 2025, that it would provide one month of free service for people affected by the flooding in Texas.
It is also worth noting that Musk has donated to storm victims in the past, as Snopes previously reported.
For example, in October 2024, the New Orleans-based nonprofit disaster recovery organization SBP reported receiving (archived) a $2.4 million grant from the tech billionaire's Musk Foundation to aid storm victims following Hurricane Helene.
Following a volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga in January 2022, Musk's SpaceX helped restore (archived) some of the island nation's internet services.
Additionally, in October 2017, the World Economic Forum reported on Musk's efforts involving Tesla contributing (archived) its Powerwall battery storage technology to bring electricity back to Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in September 2017.