In a deposition last month, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that his posts in X, formerly Twitter, might have had a negative financial impact on the social media platform he acquired for $44 billion in October 2022.
What Happened: The deposition dated March 27 shows the tech billionaire admitting that his posts on the platform might have financially harmed the company, but he intended to post what he believes in simply, reported HuffPost, citing a copy of the complete transcript, which was released to the public on Monday.
"The — and going back to the sort of self-inflicted wounds, the Kevlar shoes, I think there's — I've probably done — I may have done more to financially impair the company than to help it, but certainly I — I do not guide my posts by what is financially beneficial but what I believe is interesting or important or entertaining to the public," he said.
The billionaire underwent questioning regarding his alleged involvement in promoting a debunked conspiracy theory suggesting that a 22-year old Ben Brody, a Jewish individual took part in a neo-Nazi altercation.
However, during the deposition, Musk said he had a "limited understanding" of the lawsuit for which he was being questioned. He also expressed confusion over why Brody was pursuing litigation against him and the basic details of the case. He even accused Brody’s attorney of performing a cash grab by pursuing the lawsuit.
"My — what I want to think it's really about is about you getting a lot of money," said Musk to Brody's attorney, Mark Bankston.
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Why It Matters: Musk’s admission comes at a time when his social media platform, X, is facing several challenges. The platform, which was rebranded from Twitter, has been flooded with adult content, causing discomfort among its users.
Meanwhile, despite Musk’s efforts to transform X into an “everything app,” the platform is grappling with stagnant user growth and an influx of verified bots, potentially diluting user experience. Earlier this month, X started gifting out blue checkmarks to some users, which some social media users termed as irony, saying Musk is simply reinventing the wheel — in this case, the original blue check.
In February this year, it was reported that Fidelity retained its stake in X at a 68% discount relative to Musk’s initial purchase price, implying a roughly $14.1 billion valuation by Fidelity.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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