Constitution Hill and the social media misinformation that should give us all a healthy dose of scepticism

An article caught my attention recently as it claimed Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and an increasingly influential figure in international politics, had visited the United Arab Emirates last week to meet Sheikh Mohammed.

Given Musk’s prominence at the centre of US president-elect Donald Trump’s dealings, it seemed noteworthy he had taken the time to visit Dubai, even if the purpose was primarily to promote Tesla.

Yet it did not take much investigation before the articles, videos and posts on social media screaming about the meeting and its significance quickly unravelled. This meeting last week had, in fact, taken place in 2017 and was simply re-emerging seven years later.