Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, who has offered $44 billion to buy Twitter (TWTR), has been quiet on the social media platform since last tweeting on June 21.
Such a long absence from Twitter is unusual for Musk. He often comments about his businesses that also include SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Co.; politics; pop culture and world events. No one is saying whether he is observing a quiet time to appease Securities and Exchange Commission scrutiny over his propose purchase of Twitter, but that could make sense considering his past run-ins with the regulator.
Musk in 2018 was fined $20 million by the SEC, had to step aside as CEO of Tesla for three years and agree not to deny the SEC's allegations after the regulator charged him with securities fraud. The case stemmed from Musk's Aug. 7, 2018, tweet where he said was thinking of taking Tesla private at $420 a share and had "funding secured."
But it's not like Musk to shy away from controversy, and he usually has an opinion of most contested issues.
Musk Absent from Twitter Comments Lately
Musk hasn't made any comments about major events in the U.S. or anywhere else in the world, such as the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approving a bipartisan gun safety bill both happening on June 24, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and even a major earthquake killing over 1,000 people in Afghanistan on June 22.
Prior to June 21, Musk made comments about cheese on June 20, his support of Dogecoin, congratulations to Tesla's Berlin gigafactory, and views of SpaceX and Twitter on June 18, as well as opinions of various other subjects on previous days.
In recent months, he has also sounded the alarm on population decline in Japan, Italy, South Korea, Hong Kong, China and the U.S.
"Past two years have been a demographic disaster," Musk on June 14 wrote on Twitter about the U.S.
He had earlier worried about the declining birth rate in the United States in a May 24 Twitter post. "USA birth rate has been below min sustainable levels for ~50 years," Musk tweeted.
With all of his concern about birth rates, it's a wonder why he has not yet voiced or tweeted his opinion about the Supreme Court's June 25 Roe v. Wade decision.
When Will Musk Resume Twitter Posts?
When he decides to go public again with his thoughts, Twitter is probably the proper medium for Musk to express his political opinions, according to a June 16 Pew Research Center analysis of English-language tweets posted between May 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021.
While about 25% of American adults use Twitter, one-third of their tweets are political comments. Of all the adults using Twitter, 24% of them are age 50 or older and that group produces 80% of all political tweets, according to Pew Research. Hello, 50-year-old Musk.
The Pew findings determined that these high volume political tweeters are more likely than others to say they use Twitter to express their own opinions, 67% to 34%. They also will talk with others about politics at least once a week, 53% to 33%, and say they have contributed to a political campaign in the last year, 46% to 21%. These people say they participate in politics because they enjoy it, 27% to 14%, as opposed to believing it is a civic duty.
