In early July 2023, TikTok and YouTube users published videos promoting what they referred to as a "transcript" or "log" of the final text message communications from OceanGate Expeditions' Titan submersible.

Fact-checking website Snopes changed a rating from “True” to “Unproven” to “False” over the course of a day, in an article about Elon Musk and the Starlink satellite system being a factor in the disappearance of a submersible with five passengers that was set to explore the wreck of the Titanic.

Elon Musk is once again involved in a submarine-related, time-sensitive international news event. This time, one of the details involved in the increasingly absurd and endlessly fascinating search for OceanGate's Titan submersible that is lost on a billionaire's expedition to the Titanic is the fact that OceanGate's boat has SpaceX's Starlink internet.

Left-wing fact-checker Snopes.com altered its rating about a claim suggesting that billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink company was partially responsible for the disappearance of the OceanGate submersible since Tuesday.

Initially, Snopes claimed the allegation of Musk’s company bearing some responsibility was "true," then updated the fact check to say it was "unproven," before finally adding necessary context and deeming the allegation "false."

Snopes, another in a long line of fake fact-checking sites, attempted to suggest that Elon Musk and his Starlink internet system lost contact with the missing Titanic submersible.

Here was the Snopes headline: “Was the Missing Titanic Submersible Relying on Satellites from Elon Musk’s SpaceX to Communicate?”

And to that blatantly stupid question, Snopes declaratively said… TRUE [emphasis original]:

Aconspiracy theory branding the 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic a "hit job" received renewed attention on social media in the days leading up to the Titan submersible tragedy.

Following a frantic search to find the advanced submersible Titan, which was carrying five people to tour the wreckage of the Titanic at a depth of about 12,500 feet, it was announced on Thursday that all had perished in the Atlantic Ocean.

Debris was discovered by a remotely operated vehicle searching the site of the Titanic’s wreckage for the missing OceanGate submersible, the US Coast Guard said Thursday.

The update was shared in a tweet from the First Coast Guard District, which wrote, “A debris field was discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic.”

“Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information,” the Coast Guard added.

A "debris field" was discovered on Thursday by a robotic deep-sea vessel searching for a missing tourist submersible on the ocean floor near the wreck of the Titanic, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Experts are reviewing the information gathered by the remotely operated vehicle that was deployed from a Canadian ship, the agency said on Twitter, without offering additional details. A press conference to explain the findings was scheduled for 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT).

Claim: A video game controller was used to operate the OceanGate Expeditions missing submersible used for exploring the wreckage of the RMS Titanic in June 2023.

Rating: True

In June 2023, a rumor spread on Twitter and other social media platforms that claimed a video game controller was used to operate a missing submersible intended for exploring the deep-sea remains of the RMS Titanic. The latter struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean on April 14, 1912, and then sunk in the early morning hours on the following day, killing around 1,500 people.