Elon Musk and the internet are once again going head-to-head after his recent ‘nonchalance’ regarding Tesla shares broke the threshold between the digital world and the ‘real’ world on Twitter.
His dance with Twitter’s heat didn’t end with his Tesla stock-selling proposal either, and now Musk’s approach to ‘sexual humour’ is also being thrown into the debacle.
If you’re out of the Elon loop, here’s what happened:
On Saturday, the ‘Mighty Musk’ posted a poll in the form of a tweet asking his followers whether he should sell 10% of his stock and promised to follow the results of the audience’s opinions.
The reason for the poll? Musk was being criticised more so lately than ever regarding his tax payments, with people expressing that his tax should increase, as Business Insider reports. This follows Musk being named the wealthiest person in the history of the world.
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“Much is made lately of unrealised gains being a means of tax avoidance,” Musk, or Lorde Edge (his new official Twitter handle) expressed in the latest Twitter poll to combat the ‘tax debate.’
Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock.
Do you support this?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2021
He further added a note to the tweet:
“Note, I do not take a cash salary or bonus from anywhere. I only have stock, thus the only way for me to pay taxes personally is to sell stock.”
The recent tweet caused a stir for a few reasons: whether Musk followed through with selling the shares or not, the tweet alone would impact investors decisions. Tesla shares tumbled the most in 8 months in New York trading on Monday according to Moneyweb, falling as much as 7.3%.
This cause-effect spiralled into conversations regarding the power someone like Musk has, and how said power manifests from something as seemingly ‘innocent’ or ‘hypothetical’ as a poll tweet.
Joining the band of critical vocalists was a US senator who said that : “Whether or not the world’s wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn’t depend on the results of a Twitter poll… it’s time for the Billionaires Income Tax.”
This is where Musk’s sexual humour added fuel to the pot of criticism.
In response to Senator Ron Wyden’s take, Musk then fired back at Wyden, “focusing on his appearance” (in his profile picture) and “claiming Wyden looked like he just had an orgasm,” as per Business Insider.
“Why does ur pp look like u just came?” Musk the keyboard warrior expressed.
As a result, the nature of Musk’s ‘attitude’ on social media has caused people to talk. Working people’s lives are impacted, senators are being teased, and the whole setup feels like Musk sees it as a high-school atmosphere.
Is it anything new?
Musk being criticised for these endeavours is nothing new. Some have said he doesn’t realise what he’s doing, others have fought back saying that he is well aware.
In fact, earlier this year Musk was allegedly threatened by collective hacker group ‘Anonymous who targeted the billionaire in a viral video for having “liquidated dreams” and destroying lives of average working people.
Also read: Elon Musk allegedly threatened by ‘Anonymous’ hacker collective
These claims were based on Musk’s repertoire of cryptocurrency centered tweets throughout the years. A key point before Saturday’s poll was when Musk tweeted a meme about a breakup regarding bitcoin and the value of bitcoin dropped 7%.
“It seems that the games you have played with the crypto markets have destroyed lives,” the video stated.
Why is Elon the way that he is?
Conspiracy theories regarding Musk’s choices would take a thesis and not an article writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt. Regardless, perhaps the focus should be less on changing the billionaire’s actions, and instead focusing on how to navigate their impacts. As for Musk, if it is all a playground game or high school atmosphere, one might wonder why an admittedly nonchalant person garners so much criticism if this is a continuous approach. In my opinion, it’s to do with Musk’s humanitarian endeavours that we expect a different persona on social media.
Picture: Twitter
