A week before Christmas in 2021, Elon Musk tweeted: “Traceroute woke_mind_virus”. It referred to a computing tool used to track the source and spread of information, in this case the “woke mind virus”. The centi-billionaire believed it was this culture of social justice that had caused him to become estranged from his transgender daughter.
In the three years since, Elon Musk has gone from sharing memes about fringe cryptocurrencies and promoting clean energy technologies, to spreading extremist conspiracy theories and provoking outrage for an alleged fascist salute at an event on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration. This transition from an apolitical moderate to a far-right provocateur can perhaps be pinpointed to a single event – maybe even that single tweet.
