The claim: SpaceX blew up a Starlink satellite to cover up election rigging
A Nov. 10 Threads post (direct link, archive link) claims SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladmir Putin conspired to rig the 2024 presidential election.
“Trump cheats at everything in life,” the post reads. “Putin interfered in past 3 elections. Musk & Trump talk to Putin a lot. Musk’s Starlink uploaded votes in swing states. Swing state voters went Dem down-ballot but Trump at the top? Unikely (sic). Starlink satellites exploding, destroying evidence.”
The post was reposted more than 300 times in four days.
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Our rating: False
There is no evidence that any votes were “uploaded,” that the election was rigged or that a SpaceX satellite was destroyed as part of a cover-up. SpaceX routinely destroys satellites before they become uncontrollable, and voting machines in swing states weren’t connected to the internet.
No evidence of election fraud, officials say
After Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election on Nov. 6, both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris publicly accepted the election results and called for a peaceful transition of power. Despite this, not everyone is convinced the election was legitimate.
But the idea that Musk rigged the election or blew up a satellite to cover up election interference is baseless.
Jen Easterly, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said in a Nov. 6 statement that there was “no evidence of any malicious activity that had a material impact on the security or integrity of our election infrastructure.”
And it is unclear how Starlink, Musk’s satellite-based internet service company, could be used to rig an election. The seven battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – all have laws or policies that bar voting equipment from being connected to the internet during voting, if at all.
Dominion Voting Systems, a frequent target of misinformation, says its machines are designed to not be connected to the internet.
Starlink is occasionally used for administrative tasks at polling places in areas without reliable broadband connections. One of the more common uses is providing connectivity for the electronic poll books that serve as a registry of voters. Unofficial election results can sometimes be transmitted over private networks, but nearly every ballot will have a paper record that can be used to verify election results, according to The Associated Press.
A Starlink satellite was seen breaking up over the western U.S. on Nov. 10, but there is no evidence the satellite was destroyed to cover anything up. SpaceX routinely “steers satellites into the atmosphere to destroy those that are “identified to be at an elevated risk of becoming non-maneuverable.” More than 600 Starlink satellites have been destroyed since 2019, either falling out of orbit on their own or being intentionally taken out of commission, according to a tracker maintained by astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Fact check: Viral claim CBS News accused Donald Trump of cheating is baseless
The post’s other claims are also largely based on conjecture and lack context.
For example, the claim of Russian attempts to interfere in elections is accurate, according to intelligence agencies. Federal investigations have shown attempts by Russia to interfere with the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, but those efforts appear to have been focused on shaping voter behavior through Election Day bomb threats and the spread of misinformation and hacked materials. None of the reviews cited an effort to alter the results from the votes that were cast.
It’s unclear how often, if at all, Trump talks with Putin. Journalist Bob Woodward claims Trump spoke with Putin as many as seven times after leaving office, citing an anonymous Trump aide. But both Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin have denied this claim, according to Reuters.
The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Musk was in “regular contact” with Putin in recent years. Musk said he only had one call with Putin but ridiculed the suggestion he was supporting Russia in a post on X, while the Kremlin confirmed just one call between the men, according to the report.
And the post’s focus on split-ticket voting as proof of fraud is baseless, as there is nothing inherently suspicious about it. The U.S. has a long-documented history of ticket-splitting, though it has become less common in recent years as the country has become more polarized. Democratic candidates distancing themselves from some of the unpopular positions of Biden and Harris and a lack of enthusiasm for down-ballot Republicans in some races contributed to Democrats winning four Senate seats and a governorship in states Trump won on election night, USA TODAY reported.
USA TODAY could not reach the social media user sharing the claim for comment.
PolitiFact and Lead Stories also debunked versions of this claim.
Our fact-check sources
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SpaceX, accessed Nov. 11, Commitment to Space Sustainability
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Department of Homeland Security, Nov. 6, Statement from CISA Director Easterly on the Security of the 2024 Elections
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U.S. House of Representatives Committee on House Administration, Sept. 11, Hearing on “Looking Ahead to the 2024 General Election”
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North Carolina State Board of Elections, accessed Nov. 11, 10 Facts About Election Security in North Carolina
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Nevada Secretary of State, accessed Nov. 11, Voting System Testing and Security
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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, accessed Nov. 11, Election Security in Pennsylvania
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Michigan Bureau of Elections, accessed Nov. 11, Election Security Best Practices
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State of Arizona, accessed Nov. 11, How we secure Arizona’s elections
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Georgia Secretary of State, accessed Nov. 11, Elections FAQ
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Wisconsin Elections Commission, accessed Nov. 11, Voting Equipment Security
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USA TODAY, Nov. 9, Why did Democrats win Senate races in so many states Trump won? Ticket splitters
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USA TODAY, Nov. 5, Russia blamed for bomb threats at polling sites across 5 swing states
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USA TODAY, Oct. 8, Trump spoke with Putin as many as 7 times after leaving office, new book reports
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USA TODAY, March 16, 2021, Russia, Iran aimed to sway 2020 election through covert campaigns, US intelligence reports
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USA TODAY, April 21, 2020, Senate committee backs intelligence agencies’ findings that Russia meddled in 2016 election
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KFSN-TV, Nov. 11, Tulare County sees larger voter turnout during 2024 presidential election
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Wall Street Journal, updated Oct. 25, Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations With Vladimir Putin
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Reuters, Oct. 9, Kremlin says Trump sent COVID tests to Russia, denies report of Putin calls
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Elon Musk, Oct. 25, X post
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Associated Press, Oct. 9, Voting systems are targets of conspiracy theories, but get tested for accuracy and security
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This story was updated to add new information.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Election was secure, no rigging via Starlink | Fact check
