In a deposition last month, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed that he used a burner account on X, formerly Twitter, to role-play as his toddler son.
What Happened: Musk confirmed the use of the account, @ErmnMusk, during a March 27 deposition for a defamation lawsuit against him for falsely implicating a 22-year-old Jewish man in a neo-Nazi brawl in Oregon, despite the man not being present at the scene.
The tech billionaire said that the account was used to interact with prominent figures and make posts that seemed to be from his son. “I briefly used this account as a test account,” Musk said during the deposition which was made public on Monday and first obtained by HuffPost.
See Also: Elon Musk Promises ‘Major Purge' To Wipe Off Overwhelming Explosion Of Adult Content On X
Although Musk referred to the account as a “test account,” he reportedly used it to interact with Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of MicroStrategy and a Bitcoin BTC/USD promoter, and Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb.
The account in question was also used to make a post in April 2023, stating, “I will finally turn 3 on May 4th!” This is the birthdate of Musk and Grimes’ (Claire Elise Boucher) son, X Æ A-12. The account was allegedly deleted by Musk in February, on the same day as the court’s discovery order, but the posts can still be seen on internet archive websites.
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Meanwhile, in the same deposition, the tech mogul acknowledged that his posts on X might have had a negative financial impact on the social media platform he acquired for $44 billion in October 2022.
Why It Matters: These revelations come at a time when Musk is under scrutiny for his social media activities. Just earlier this month it was reported that Musk’s social media platform has been flooded with adult content, causing discomfort among its users.
The tech tycoon has also started giving out blue checkmarks to users with over 2,500 and 5,000 “verified subscriber followers.” However, people are seeing this development as nothing short of an irony, saying Musk is simply reinventing the wheel — in this case, the method for offering the original blue check.
“Omg they gave me a blue checkmark for being "influential" on twitter. they have simply reinvented the original blue check i'm laughing so hard,” one person said on X.
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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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