Where’s the Trump phone? We’re going to support talking astir it each week. We’ve reached out, arsenic usual, to inquire astir the Trump phone’s whereabouts. As usual, we’re still waiting for a response. In the meantime, immoderate awesome alleged income figures person gone viral — but they mightiness beryllium excessively bully to beryllium true.
This week, I saw thing caller successful my regular scouring of the web for updates connected the Trump phone: a repeated declare that Trump Mobile has secured astir 600,000 preorders for the phone. With a $100 deposit per device, that would make for a tidy $60 cardinal payday for Trump Mobile already.
It’s funny timing, coming conscionable earlier yesterday’s unfastened missive to the FTC from Elizabeth Warren and a group of different Democrats, calling connected the agency to unfastened an investigation into the company’s alleged “false advertizing and deceptive practices.” Not everyone agrees Trump Mobile deserves the Democrats’ attention, successful portion from the presumption that not that galore group are apt to person put money down for the telephone successful the first place. As 1 commenter connected my communicative yesterday suggested, “I can’t ideate a batch of folks were dumb capable to autumn for this.” But according to these caller figures, complete half a cardinal group were.
There’s conscionable 1 problem: I can’t find a shred of grounds that this fig is true. In fact, it seems to trace backmost to a azygous viral, anonymous X station and is simply a microcosm of really the modern media scenery and AI chatbots tin harvester to springiness falsities the sheen of respectability.
I first saw the fig in, of each places, the Threads provender of California politician Gavin Newsom’s property office, which had shared a screenshot of a tweet of a Grok summary making the claim. Trustworthy, right?
The Grok post cites “reports from sources for illustration Fortune, NPR, and The Guardian” for the 600,000 preorders, but a speedy hunt of their caller output shows nary motion of the number. I wanted to cognize wherever Grok sewage it from, if not there.
A speedy Google hunt turns up an atrocious batch of societal media posts, from accounts some large and small, but besides a fewer stories successful seemingly morganatic publications. India’s Economic Times and Hindustan Times some reported a much circumstantial fig of 590,000 preorders, referencing an unspecified Associated Press study arsenic the source.
The only caller AP sum of Trump Mobile was this communicative from past week, summarizing the repeated delays, which makes nary declare to circumstantial preorder figures. I reached retired to the organization, and its VP of firm communications, Lauren Easton, confirmed to maine that “AP’s original stories ne'er contained specified a number.”
The crippled thickens. I tried the authors of the 2 stories citing AP, and 1 sewage backmost to me. Hindustan Times writer Shamik Banerjee called the citation “a typo,” and told maine that the fig was successful truth taken from The Times of India.
The Times of India story, which is bylined only to the newspaper’s manner desk, is much transparent successful its sourcing: a viral station by a meme account.
Bricktop_NAFO, a seemingly British relationship pinch conscionable complete 99,000 followers, mostly posts pro-Ukraine content, interspersed pinch unrelated memes and joke posts. It does a regular statement successful anti-Trump posts too, and connected January 11th, it shared the declare that “590,000 idiots purchased Trumps Mobile telephone [sic] that went connected sale.”
As acold arsenic I tin tell, this is the oldest online mention of the 590,000 figure, though the 600,000 number appeared successful a Facebook station backmost successful December, albeit 1 pinch nary likes, nary comments, and only a single, backstage share. Bricktop_NAFO’s post, by contrast, has been viewed 2.8 cardinal times according to X and reposted different 8,000. It’s crushed zero for this peculiar strain of misinformation.
I reached retired to Bricktop_NAFO, some successful its DMs and successful a nationalist reply to the post, to inquire if it had a root for the claim, but the relationship proprietor didn’t reply successful clip for publication. I besides asked if it could constituent maine toward the $45 Temu telephone it claimed was a lucifer — my workfellow Allison Johnson antecedently tried, and failed, to find an nonstop dupe of the T1 Phone, and arsenic acold arsenic I’m aware, nary 1 has successfully matched its spec expanse and creation to an existing handset.
The ripple effect from this azygous tweet has been impressive. X’s ain stock figures supra don’t see the countless different posts that person picked up the made-up number and tally pinch it, moreover taking it arsenic acold arsenic Governor Newsom’s property office. It’s been covered by aggregate publications, now presented arsenic truth connected MSN.com and tech tract Phone Arena. And that sum has helped it to select into the chatbots and not conscionable Grok — Gemini and ChatGPT were some happy to corroborate to maine that 600,000 T1 Phones person been ordered truthful far, the erstwhile falsely attributing the number to the Associated Press, and the second to Phone Arena.
As for really galore Trump Phone preorders person really been placed? No 1 extracurricular the institution knows, and truthful far, it’s not telling. I asked the Trump Mobile property agency for an existent preorder fig but, judge it aliases not, I haven’t heard back.
Got wrong accusation connected Trump Mobile aliases the Trump phone? Reach retired securely from a individual instrumentality to [email protected], aliases spot our How to Tip Us page.
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