There is something missing from Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) – or, to be more specific, a certain someone whose tweets have moved markets, rankled President Joe Biden and become the source of inspiration, amusement and outrage across social media. And, not surprisingly, it has spurred a new trending catchphrase on the site: Where is @elonmusk?
What Happened: Elon Musk has not tweeted since June 21 when he shared a now-discredited photo of a 7-11 gas station sign supposedly selling regular and diesel fuel at $7.11 (the photo is actually a 2021 snapshot of a test for a new electronic sign). And while a week without Musk tweets may not seem like Earth-shattering news, the 100 million-plus followers of the Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) chieftain and Twitter owner-to-be are curious on this prolonged absence.
Kaivan Shroff, a senior advisor to the nonprofit Institute for Education and a political commentator, suspected recent partisan controversies spooked Musk offline.
".@ElonMusk claims to be a moderate/centrist, but he exposed himself as the fraud he is this week," he tweeted. “Every day he tweets attacks on moderate Democrats, but in a week where Republican extremists go full Gilead — no tweets in 4 days. Convenient. Cc: media, stop buying his lies.”
Matthew Greeley, founder and CEO of Brightidea, speculated that Musk might be too busy with his corporate affairs to bang out tweets.
“Where is @elonmusk?” he asked. “No tweets in seven days? Signing papers?”
The Twitter account @IrishAmerican27 recalled Musk’s insouciant comment about where he often sits while tweeting.
“Where is @elonmusk he has not tweeted in 4 days!” the account tweeted, albeit off by a few days. “I guarantee he was on the toilet at least a time or two in the past 4 days.”
And cosmologist Phillip Helbig lamented the void left in Musk’s tweeting absence.
“Where is Elon ‘pronouns suck’ Musk when you need him?” he said.
See Also: 10 Weirdest Paintings of Elon Musk
Why It Happened: Musk is the rare corporate leader who has actively encouraged media attention, although recently much of his coverage has not been favorable, ranging from layoffs to ongoing accusations of racism at his California Tesla facility to the public rejection of Musk by his transgender daughter Vivian, who filed to have their surname changed.
But Musk’s self-removal from Twitter is not the only social media platform where he is currently away – on the China-facing Weibo, where Musk has more than 2 million followers, his last message to date was on June 3 to announce the rescheduling of Tesla AI Day September 30 and the promise of a prototype preview for his Optimus robot.
Photo: Steve Jurvetson / Flickr Creative Commons
