During an interview with CNBC, Elon Musk made statements that are both important and bizarre. Although we know that Musk, the second richest person in the world, is the CEO of very serious companies such as Tesla and SpaceX, it is very clear that he has a very interesting style on Twitter. Meanwhile, we also agree that Musk is also seriously advocating for “freedom of speech,” and perhaps this can be important in understanding the driving force behind his rhetoric.“I say what I want”
Elon Musk defended his right to say provocative things on Twitter, even if it cost him money. On the other hand, this interview comes after Musk’s disturbing tweets in which he supported conspiracy theories about a shooting in Texas, George Soros was accused of anti-Semitism after claiming to “hate humanity”, and retweeted discredited theories about crime and race. needs to be specified.During the interview, Musk was asked why he tweeted conspiracy theories and made statements that were criticized as racist and antisemitic, especially when they could lose him customers and harm the companies he runs.
Musk paused for a while (oddly long) before answering these questions, referring to the scene in 1987’s The Princess Bride where Mandy Patinkin’s character Inigo Montoya confronts the man who killed his father, saying, “I’ll say whatever I have to say and if I’m going to lose money as a result, so be it.” .
On the other hand, as the CEO of a public company, there is a limit to what Musk can say on Twitter or elsewhere. For example, if he tweets misleading about Tesla, shareholders can sue him. Just like they did after they tweeted about privatizing the company at $420 per share. (Shareholders lost the case and Musk was found not responsible for their losses)
Musk is asked why he tweets provocatively, and he points to the number of followers to justify his increasingly irrational behavior, as if most of those followers weren’t just posting for the sake of it. His followers and shareholders beg him to stop tweeting, but he repeatedly “doubles up” it. It can be said that it is an unthinkable situation. Of course, this has a negative impact on Twitter as well. The decline in advertising revenues is an indicator of this. In this context, Musk’s hiring Linda Yaccarino as the new Twitter CEO may be a positive step. One way or another, it’s a tangible fact that Twitter has seriously discredited Musk.
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