SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Tesla chief Elon Musk fired off a
tweet on Friday indicating that he is disconnecting from Twitter, perhaps in
favor of popular news and discussion platform Reddit.
Kicking the Twitter habit would be a radical change for the colorful serial
entrepreneur who is known for tweeting so freely that he landed in hot water
with the US Securities and Exchange Commission which accused him of
misleading investors on the platform.
“Not sure about good of Twitter,” Musk told his more than 29 million
followers in a series of rapid-fire tweets.
“Reddit still seems good.”
“Going offline,” Musk concluded.
Musk is being sued for defamation in Los Angeles by a man who helped in the
dramatic rescue of 12 boys trapped in an underwater cave in Thailand last
year.
Musk called the British caver a “pedo guy” on Twitter following a highly
public spat between the two after Musk traveled to Thailand and offered to
assist in rescue efforts.
Musk said in a court filing last month that he did not mean to accuse the
caver of pedophilia when he referred to him as “pedo guy.”
In the filing, Musk claimed the term was a common insult used in South
Africa when he was growing up, synonymous with “creepy old man.”
The case is set to go to trial on December 2.
Musk’s trouble with the SEC meanwhile stems from multiple tweets.
In February 2018 he posted that Tesla would make 500,000 cars in 2019 — up
from the 400,000 that the company had estimated until then, an apparent
increase on a benchmark tied to profitability, which elicited a rebuke from
the SEC.
In a separate Twitter incident the following August, Musk claimed on the
platform that he had secured funding to take Tesla private, which was quickly
aborted, leading the SEC to accuse him of defrauding investors.
The SEC subsequently required Musk to step down as chairman and pay $20
million to settle charges over the matter.
Musk and the SEC early this year reached a deal to settle their differences
over his Twitter use.
The agreement set out clearer guidelines on topics Musk should avoid on
Twitter or other social media, including statements about acquisitions,
mergers, new products and production numbers.
Musk’s Friday farewell tweet was met with thousands of replies, many
expressing sadness and urging him to make his next online commentary platform
definitively known.