**Viral News Snippet:**

Viral News Snippet:

🚨 CLAIM: Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff secretly donated $10 million to a new “AI Ethics Fund” run by a shadowy Silicon Valley think tank, in exchange for a promise that his company’s AI models would be exempt from future federal regulation.

STATUS: 🔴 FALSE — No evidence exists of any such donation or secret agreement. Benioff has publicly advocated for more AI regulation, not less. The source of this rumor appears to be a fabricated screenshot from a parody account posing as a tech news outlet.

THE FULL STORY: The rumor spread rapidly on X after a user with 62 followers posted a screen grab of a fake press release. It claimed the “Bay Area Transparency Institute” — which does not exist — had received the funds. In reality, Benioff recently testified before a Senate subcommittee urging stricter rules on generative AI data use. Salesforce’s own “AI Trust Layer” is open-source and designed for transparency. The account that started the rumor has since been suspended for violating platform policy on synthetic and manipulated media.

📌 FACT-CHECK VERDICT: Viral alarmism. No million-dollar secret AI slush fund. No secret deal. Just a cut-and-paste fantasy designed to erode trust in one of tech’s most vocal AI accountability advocates.