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.