4 Times Elon Musk’s Tweet Sparked Controversy

There is no doubt that Elon Musk is brazen on Twitter. He has garnered the attention of 73.4 million fans at last count on the social media platform. But there are times when his tweets rub some critics the wrong way and create a bit of controversy, spark some unwanted backlash, or even seemingly sway the market.

Here are four times that Musk’s tweets generated a buzz:

Market Mover And Shaker

In early January 2021, the billionaire had what many referred to as the “Musk effect,” where a simple tweet would send the market into a buying frenzy.

In an attempt to give his Twitter fans some advice, Musk posted a simple tweet that read, “Use Signal” – a social chat app.

A medical device company with the same name saw its share price skyrocket 438% the same day, the New York Post reported. The app that Musk was actually referring to had 7.5 million people download it during the week of the post, CNBC said.

Musk also made a similar post for GameStop, tweeting “Gamestonk,” sending its shares up 60% in just hours after the post.

Other posts by Musk have seen their shares soaring as well.

Etsy was up 6% after Musk said he kinda loved the shopping site, while Shopify rose 3.5% following a tweet from Musk that said it was “great,” Bloomberg reported.

Following the string of tweets, Musk said he was “Off Twitter for a while.”

Floki Mania

For anyone who pays attention, Musk is a strong supporter of Dogecoin, so much so he became a self-proclaimed “Master of Coin.”

Musk’s Twitter account is filled with posts promoting Dogecoin, and even got himself a Shibu Inu dog named Floki in September. Shibu Inu is the mascot of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

Several Floki-based cryptocurrencies were created after he said back in June he would be getting a Shiba Inu. Upon announcing the arrival of his pet Floki, the currencies shot up in value.

According to Benzinga, at the time, Floki currency rose 1,200%, Floki Inu coin was up over 104%, and the Shiba Floki token increased 1,400%.

Musk also has another dog that he has named Marvin.

COVID Confusion

In another Twitter incident in November 2020, Musk was criticized for calling out the validity of COVID testing after calling them “bogus.”

Musk had received different test results after having four COVID tests on the same day, causing him to tweet, “something extremely bogus is going on.”

He said, “Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse.”

According to Musk, the COVID tests were “rapid antigen tests.”

The likelihood of receiving a false-negative result from a rapid antigen test is increased because they are less expensive and faster tests compared to lab-performed PCR COVID tests, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Ask The People

In one of Musk’s more candid moments, he took a poll of his followers in November to determine if he should sell 10% of his stake in Tesla to pay his taxes, which he claimed in December were over $11 billion.

The majority of his fans (57.9%) said he should. As promised, Musk began a sell-off his shares.

But controversy soon followed as it was revealed on Feb. 7 that Tesla was subpoenaed by the Securities and Exchange Commission again in November.

While it was unclear why Tesla was subpoenaed again, it came after the tweet about Musk selling his shares and follows a 2018 settlement agreement where Musk is to have his tweets vetted by company lawyers related to content about the automaker.

As part of the settlement with the SEC, Musk also agreed to step down as chairman of the board and pay a $20 million penalty. Tesla also paid a $20 million penalty.