Unless you live under a rock, you probably know or have heard of Elon Musk. The South African-born inventor and entrepreneur has achieved global recognition through his business ventures, earning him much wealth. Currently, he is compared to the biggest tycoons known in U.S. history, such as Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Henry Ford.
However, this billionaire tycoon is not only known for his wealth. He is no stranger to controversies that frequently put him in the limelight. This is mainly because of his commentary regarding certain issues on his Twitter account.
While, sometimes, his posts are funny and likable, he often airs out ideas that do not sit well with the public. In this article, we share and analyze some of Elon Musk’s most popular tweets. Read on!
Who Is Elon Musk?
Elon Musk is a South African-American entrepreneur. Born in Pretoria in 1971, he gained global acknowledgment as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SpaceX and the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. However, Musk is more than that.
In his entrepreneurial life, Elon Musk has co-founded several companies, including X.com, which later became PayPal, OpenAI, Neuralink, and Zip2. Musk is also a social icon. Save for being the Twitter CEO, he has also appeared on TV shows such as Rick and Morty and has hosted Saturday Night Live.
Elon Musk Buys Twitter
Twitter is one of the most recent acquisitions in Musk’s entrepreneurial spree. However, even before he took over the social media app, Musk was no stranger to the platform. He tweeted frequently and had more than 100 million followers. Musk had an estimated 9% stake in the company as of April 2022.
Due to his high stake in the company, Twitter offered Musk a seat on the board. However, Musk initially accepted and then declined, proposing to buy the company at $54.20 a share. The offer was privy to a lot of push and pull, with the board initially unwilling to give up their shares.
However, after Musk offered to buy the company for about $44 billion, and after months of legal battles, the billionaire eventually sealed the deal and became the CEO on October 28th, 2022.
Elon Musk’s Most Popular Tweets by Theme
Even before becoming the Twitter CEO in late 2022, Elon Musk was active on the platform, often tweeting controversial opinions and occasional jokes and memes. After taking over the company, the billionaire entrepreneur gained millions of followers, making him one of the most influential people on the platform.
However, his following is not the only thing that increased. With the new audience, Musk has drastically increased the thoughts and opinions he shares on Twitter. While some have been agreeable and hilarious, others do not sit well with his followers. Let’s look at some of his most classic and popular tweets.
1. Offer Announcement
Elon’s move to buy Twitter was a long time coming. The billionaire had already shared his obsession with the platform and shown interest in owning it or becoming part of it.
In this tweet, the Tesla CEO announced his bid to purchase the company with a simple statement, “I made an offer.” The tweet includes a link to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission form as proof of his bid.
Similarly, the tweet included a thread where Elon promised to keep as many shareholders in the privatized Twitter once he acquired it.
The tweet sparked emotions in a section of Twitter users. While some people welcomed the idea of Elon taking over the platform, others resisted the possible takeover. They didn’t want to see Jack ousted.
2. Free Speech!
“The bird is freed!” was Elon Musk’s first tweet after he officially took over Twitter and became the social media platform’s CEO. Before the acquisition, Musk had frequently complained about how Twitter curtailed the freedom of speech by seemingly leaning more toward leftist views than rightist and conservative opinions.
He especially had a problem with people airing their conservative views and having their accounts suspended, violating their freedom of free speech.
As such, Musk ascertained that once he took over as Twitter CEO, he would ensure everyone had a say on the platform, regardless of affiliation. Hence, he viewed his taking over as “freeing Twitter,” thus the tweet.
Of course, like most of his posts on the platform, this tweet welcomed mixed responses from Twitter users worldwide.
3. A Visit to the Twitter HQ
The Twitter takeover was obviously exciting to Elon Musk. In this tweet, the billionaire highlighted his enthusiasm with a bit of humor. He captioned a video of him entering the Twitter headquarters with a sink with the words, “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!”
He posted the tweet just before he was announced as the new Twitter CEO, as he visited the headquarters to get familiar with the premises. In a subsequent tweet, Musk said he met so many amazing people from the company. He could not hide how happy he was.
The video garnered over 48 million views and is one of the hilarious iconic tweets the Tesla CEO blessed the internet with. However, the tweet received backlash from people opposed to Musk’s takeover.
4. The Coca-Cola Tweet
In April 2022, after announcing his Twitter bid, Musk tweeted: “Next, I’m buying Coca-Cola to put the cocaine back in.” The hilarious tweet turned many heads, culminating in several engagements. The post got over 4 million likes, topping the list of Elon Musk’s most popular tweets.
Although Musk was joking, some tweeter junkies took his tweet seriously. After all, he is a billionaire with deep pockets that enabled him to buy Twitter because he loved the app.
The tweet’s climax was when Musk quoted his tweet, tagging Coca-Cola and raising questions about whether the billionaire was serious.
5. Severing Ties with Bitcoin
Time and again, Elon Musk has reiterated his interest in cryptocurrency. This culminated in his company, Tesla, accepting Bitcoin purchases for their vehicles and appliances. However, in a tweet dated May 13th, 2021, the Tesla CEO announced the company’s plans to sever ties with Bitcoin.
Although the announcement was a surprise, shaking the internet, especially for people who have invested in cryptocurrency, the reasons were understandable. Musk stated that his company was parting ways with Bitcoin due to the company’s use of fossil fuel energy and carbon emissions.
The tweet confirms Musk’s vision of a world that runs on green energy and highlights his values. Unsurprisingly, Musk’s Bitcoin tweet had negative repercussions on the cryptocurrency. Bitcoins’ value tremendously fell from $54,819 to $45,700, its lowest since March 2021.
Consequently, the tweet got mixed reactions. While environmentalists applauded the move, people who had invested in the cryptocurrency were disgruntled.
6. Pronouns Suck
Elon Musk is no stranger to Twitter politics, where people with different opinions on social issues share their ideals and debate. In July 2020, the Tesla CEO shared a somewhat controversial opinion on pronouns stating, “Pronouns suck.”
The tweet irked multitudes, who interpreted it as an attack on transgender people. However, Musk clarified and said he supported transgender people and the fight for their rights, contrary to how the tweet was interpreted on the social media platform. He simply found the pronouns confusing.
In a subsequent tweet, he said, “I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an aesthetic nightmare.” Nonetheless, the clarification did not vindicate him.
A lot of people were still offended. Though many people considered the post transphobic, the tweet received a lot of traction, becoming one of Elon Musk’s most popular tweets.
7. Ending the Ukraine-Russia War
The Ukraine-Russia war has been a topic on the internet for a while. As it stands, most people want the war to end as soon as possible. However, not everyone has the confidence to suggest how to end the battle. Not Elon Musk, though.
In this tweet, Musk gives his two cents on ending the Ukraine war. He posted an opinion poll on providing a four-part solution, which starts by conducting a repeat election of annexed regions under the United Nations’ supervision.
Next, he suggested that Crimea officially becomes part of Russia and water supply be restored to the area as Ukraine remains neutral. While some people agreed with the SpaceX founder, others were heavily opposed.
Judging from the poll, where more than 2.7 million people voted, most did not agree with Elon Musk’s opinions. Nonetheless, at least he tried to end the war.
8. Try the Fragrance
Elon Musk launched a new fragrance called Burnt Hair through his company, The Boring Company. In this tweet, the billionaire entrepreneur advertised it, stating it was “The finest fragrance on Earth.”
Unsurprisingly, the tweet had a positive impact on sales. Through his massive following, the perfume sold out in a few weeks. The tweet was a top-tier marketing strategy.
9. Nuke Mars!
One of Elon Musk’s visions for humanity’s future is to explore space and inhabit other planets. His company, SpaceX, aims to design spacecraft and explore the universe. Currently, the company is focused on making Mars habitable and taking steps to occupy the planet.
As such, his tweet, “Nuke Mars!” surprised people on the internet. However, the tweet did not mean that the billionaire inventor wanted to destroy the planet. Rather, it highlighted his plans to blast the Martian poles with nuclear missiles and create artificial suns that would give the planet an earthlike atmosphere.
10. Challenging Putin
We cannot compile a list of Elon Musk’s most popular tweets and leave out his message to President Putin. Challenging someone to a duel is something out of a movie script. You don’t see it daily, especially when it involves the head of state.
Nonetheless, in this tweet, Musk dared Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, to combat. He sent the post a month after the Ukraine-Russia war broke out, stating that the duel’s stake would be Ukraine. In a subsequent tweet, he tagged the Russian president.
11. End the Lockdown
The lockdown and restrictions accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic were a necessary inconvenience. However, Musk was having none of it. In April 2020, he tweeted “FREE AMERICA NOW,” airing his discontent.
The tweet wasn’t the only time the billionaire downplayed the pandemic’s seriousness. He often reiterated that the panic over COVID-19 was dumb and that chloroquine was a sufficient remedy.
12. Pay $8
After taking over Twitter, Musk brought various changes that unsettled most social media users. As the new Twitter CEO, one of his most criticized moves was introducing a monthly levy for Twitter Blue.
The move was subject to a lot of backlash from millions of people who termed the move as a selfish means for Musk to make more money despite his billionaire status.
Nonetheless, he wanted to make Twitter more profitable. Musk responded to all the hate he got by tweeting: “Trash me all day, but it’ll cost $8.”
13. Saturday Night Live!
In April 2021, Elon Musk was invited to host SNL. As one of the few non-entertainers to host the show, the Tesla CEO was excited by the opportunity, which he tweeted about.
Musk announced his invitation to host SNL by referring to himself as “The Dogefather,” a word play referring to Dogecoin and the popular film, The Godfather.
Conclusion
From challenging the Russian president to promising to add cocaine to Coca-Cola, Elon Musk’s Twitter account is no stranger to controversy. Even before he became the platform’s CEO, his tweets got millions of impressions.
The tweets highlighted in this article represent some of Elon Musk’s most popular ones. Given he’s the current Twitter CEO, we can expect Musk to share even more controversial opinions with little fear of possible repercussions.
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