Is it true that Elon Musk's first Bulgarian ground base near Stara Zagora is part of a globalist plan to turn Stara Zagora into a smart city? No, it's not true: The project is not related to Musk or his enterprises. Vivacom and the Eutelsat Group launched the fourth terrestrial station in Europe, enabling enhanced communications services for the Eutelsat Group's Low Earth Orbit (LEO) connectivity services.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) on TikTok on March 17, 2024, under the title (translated from Bulgarian to English by Lead Stories staff): "Elon Musk's base near Stara Zagora! Does anyone know anything about this?!". In a summary, the narrator says (as translated):
While you are arguing about which political party will save you, I will tell you that all parties are together and have one goal - to destroy us and make Bulgaria part of the world's globalist concentration camp. This is the first ground base of Elon Musk, which is located near Stara Zagora, in the village of Mogila. Here are the satellites that connect the ground base to the satellites in orbit and the information goes to a supercomputer. It is not by chance that this base is in Stara Zagora, because it is in the center of Bulgaria. It is no accident that they will introduce digital money and there is a pandemic, PCR tests, implanted nanobots, chemtrails, 3D food printers, controlled access to banks, to media, to everything.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Mon Mar 25 20:41:51 2024 UTC)
The false claim has been circulating widely on social media (archived here and here). The video footage in question depicts the fourth terrestrial station in Europe, in Bulgaria. This station (archived here), launched by Vivacom and Eutelsat Group, is one of 35 such stations operating worldwide, facilitating expanded communication services for Eutelsat Group's low Earth Orbit (LEO) connectivity services. The project is being carried out at Vivacom's site in the municipality of Stara Zagora. The construction of the station was initiated by the satellite operator OneWeb, which has since merged with the French Eutelsat and now operates under the Eutelsat Group (archived here) banner. This project is not related to Musk or his enterprises.
Musk's company SpaceX (archived here) manages a separate constellation of satellites, known as Starlink (archived here), which is not associated with the project in Stara Zagora. Although the Eutelsat Group and SpaceX offer satellite internet services, they are two different companies.
Stara Zagora in Bulgaria is progressing (archived here) towards a "smart city" by implementing sustainable public transport and traffic systems. These are local initiatives to modernize the infrastructure and assure sustainability. They are not related to Musk or a globalist plan.
"Globalist plan" is a term found in conspiracy theories, as Lead Stories has previously written. Lead Stories debunked several false claims related to this conspiracy here, here, here and here.
