Importance Score: 65 / 100 🔴
Pedestrian Crossings in Silicon Valley Targeted in Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg Prank
Several pedestrian crossings across northern California were reportedly compromised with altered audio messages impersonating tech magnates Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. The incidents, which took place in the heart of Silicon Valley, triggered an investigation by local authorities who have since deactivated the audio functionality of the affected crossings. These crossings typically issue verbal instructions guiding pedestrians to “walk” or “wait.”
Fake Celebrity Greetings Disrupt Traffic Signals
The unusual messages surfaced over the weekend in various locations including Palo Alto, Redwood City, and Menlo Park—the latter being the location of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta headquarters.
- One altered message, mimicking Elon Musk, purportedly offered pedestrians a complimentary Tesla Cybertruck in exchange for friendship.
- Another message, impersonating Mark Zuckerberg, jokingly encouraged people to call him “The Zuck.”
Investigation Underway into Signal Tampering
The origin and method of these altered audio messages remain under investigation. Officials in the affected areas, situated south of San Francisco, informed news outlets that engineers are currently examining how the pedestrian signals were manipulated.
According to Pedro Quintana, a spokesperson for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), approximately ten pedestrian crossings in the Menlo Park and Palo Alto vicinity were impacted by this incident.
Quintana stated that these crossings are now operating on a timer system, and the buttons that triggered the spurious messages have been disabled as a precautionary measure.
Messages Targeted Areas Near Tech Billionaires’ Businesses
The altered audio was detected throughout Silicon Valley regions where both tech billionaires maintain significant business operations. One manipulated message, using a voice resembling Musk, welcomed individuals to Palo Alto, the home of Tesla’s operational base.
The fabricated message included lines such as, “You know, they say money can’t buy happiness and… I guess that’s true. God knows I’ve tried,” as captured in a video widely circulated on social media.
A false Zuckerberg audio message began with an introduction before proceeding to discuss integrating AI into “every facet of your conscious experience.”
City Officials Respond to Hacked Crossings
Neither Musk nor Zuckerberg has publicly addressed the incident to date.
Separately, the city of Palo Alto disclosed to news sources that at least a dozen crossings in the downtown area had been compromised. Meghan Horrigan-Taylor, a city spokesperson, mentioned that a city employee initially alerted officials to the issue on Saturday, noticing the voice feature malfunctioning. Authorities believe the tampering may have occurred as early as Friday.
“City staff have deactivated the audible feature until necessary repairs are completed,” Horrigan-Taylor stated. “Other traffic signals within the city have been inspected, and the impact appears to be isolated to these specific pedestrian crossings.”
Redwood City Crossings Also Affected
Local news outlets also reported that multiple pedestrian crossings in the Redwood City area were similarly hacked to emit audio resembling the two prominent billionaires.