CNN 'fact checks' Elon Musk’s meme mocking them for hating free speech

On Monday, Twitter owner Elon Musk posted a meme to his social media site that read "CNN: Elon Musk could threaten free speech on Twitter by literally allowing people to speak freely" and featured Don Lemon in the image.

Readers used the Community Notes feature of the platform to add context and linked to an Associated Press article, which noted the meme originated from the satire site Genesius Times. In May, CNN's David Zurawik called Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter "dangerous" and added, "You need regulation. You cannot let these guys control discourse in this country or we are headed to hell."

CNN's official communications department replied and said, "This headline never appeared on CNN. Be better." Overlaid on Musk’s tweet was a Twitter post that read: "This tweet violated the Twitter rules on sharing false, fabricated and misleading information."

Musk hit back with "Lmaoooo."

In April, CNN former employee Brian Stelter said that an abundance of freedom at Twitter may not be a good thing and equated it to a party you might not want to attend. 

On Twitter, ALX responded to the tweet and wrote, "'Elon Musk Tweets False, Doctored CNN Headline, Here’s Why That's Dangerous.' -CNN today (probably)"

Others posted their support of Musk.

Lemon and Musk had finished a row over the mantra "Hands up, Don't shoot" last week. Musk correctly noted that the mantra was "made up" after finding #StayWoke t-shirts at Twitter headquarters last week. The saying was created by activists in the wake of Michael Brown's death in 2014. Brown was shot in Ferguson, Missouri by police officer Darren Wilson, in an incident that was found by local authorities and Obama's Department of Justice to have been a good shoot, as Brown attacked Wilson and tried to wrestle his gun from him. According to Fox News, Musk's mention of this "triggered" Don Lemon who tried to add context in his morning show.