
The Tesla chief executive tweeted “Just deleted my Twitter account” and changed his profile picture to black, though the account still seems to be active.
There was mixed reaction from internet users, with some seeming shocked by his apparent departure and others claiming it was prompted by an earlier online dispute.
Just deleted my Twitter account.
In a now-deleted tweet, Mr. Musk posted a piece of art however was
quickly criticized for not crediting the original artist.
He wrote in response: “No one should be credited with anything ever.”
The entrepreneur has
recently made variety of bizarre postings on
Twitter, as well as changing his name to daddy DotCom on Father’s Day.
One Twitter user wrote: “I can’t believe Elon
Musk has absolutely followed
the trajectory of an angry forum teenager in a single day, all the way from initial dispute to claiming you’re deleting your
account and then not really deleting it.”
Another said: “I’m no professional however I think you actually have to delete your account to
delete your account.”
One person even joked, “Luckily I, Elon
Musk, have this second account which is certainly run by me.”
Several users questioned whether or not his account had
been hacked.
Mr. Musk’s supposed social media departure
comes after the
Tesla chief executive officer agreed to have his social media posts regarding the carmaker pre-approved
by a lawyer.
He landed himself
in hot water with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after tweeting that he had secured funding to take the corporate private at
$420 (£325) a share, despite not having the money to pull off
the deal.
Mr. Musk originally reached a settlement with
the SEC in September last
year; however it later
brought a case alleging he violated the
settlement.
In April, Mr. Musk agreed to seek lawyer approval before tweeting regarding topics as
well as Tesla’s finances, potential mergers, sales figures, new
business lines or a change in
company directors.