By Sheera FrenkelMartín González Gómez and Ella Koeze
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A collection of tweets scrolling horizontally across the screen, all posted by Elon Musk, shows various memes, referencing Pepe the Frog, Dogecoin and parodies of the L.G.B.T.Q. movement.
The day after Thanksgiving, nearly one month after Elon Musk became the owner of Twitter, he returned to one of his hobby horses. “I’m just fighting for free speech in America,” he wrote in a tweet.
One of 28 that he posted that day — beginning just after midnight, following messages about how tasty his holiday meal was — the free speech tweet was in response to two followers who were aggrieved about how Mr. Musk was being treated since acquiring the social network in late October. The post was liked more than 46,000 times.
The establishment media is angry at @elonmusk because:
— Twitter is no longer under the control of the establishment and its activist allies
— He implemented meritocratic policies and fired their friends who “worked” at Twitter
— The public can now openly question the narrative
Tesla Owners Silicon Valley @teslaownersSV
People should know the insane amount of crap you’ve received since the takeover
Mr. Musk has often said that Twitter needs to be more open and filled with a greater diversity of voices and points of view. But Mr. Musk’s Twitter feed is often an echo chamber. He regularly sees, likes and replies to messages that are about him or are posted from accounts that often act as his cheerleaders, according to a New York Times review of his activity on the platform.
In order to assess how the social network may evolve under Mr. Musk’s watch, The Times reviewed nearly 20,000 of his public tweets, analyzing posts from recent years and images he published over the past decade, as well as the relatively small number of users that he follows.
What Mr. Musk says on Twitter has a huge reach, now more than ever: His audience is one of the largest, with nearly 128 million accounts following him. It is where he solicits advice, conducts polls, condemns censorship and announces sweeping policy changes on the platform. As a power user who now controls the company — he recently called himself the “chief twit” — Mr. Musk has vowed to remake the social network in his vision.
Of the 177 accounts that Mr. Musk followed as of this week, most were related to his businesses, or have expressed admiration of his business style, the Times review found. The list is heavily male: Only two dozen that are not institutional or organizational accounts belong to women. He is related to two of them — his mother, Maye, and sister, Tosca — and was married to a third.
Amid discussions of Twitter policies, internet satellites from SpaceX and Tesla software updates, his posts have a freewheeling quality to them. He traffics in juvenile humor and vulgar jokes (pictures of tape dispensers laid in sexual positions), scientific marvels (the Large Hadron Collider), popular subjects on far-right sites (Pepe the Frog) and critiques of divisive cultural issues (“I’m not brainwashed!!”).
Mr. Musk’s posting style is conversational, and regularly satirical. He messages with former Democratic cabinet officials, criticizes news organizations and trades barbs with venture capitalists.
“The purchasing of Twitter was a power move, politically,” said Joan Donovan, the research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard. “He is one of the richest men in the world buying a social media company in a move that is expressly about politics and influence on culture and on media.”
Often, his updates are limited to just memes — joking images or videos that are copied and widely shared. Many have origins on fringe sites or cryptocurrency message boards that are popular with his followers. Some are about him. Some appear to be original.
A timeline showing images tweeted by Mr. Musk from 2012 through the end of 2022, in which there is an increase in images shared starting in 2018 and nearly half of those are memes.
Through the end of 2022, Mr. Musk shared 1,181 images on Twitter.
Through the end of 2022, Mr. Musk shared 1,181 images on Twitter.
Since October 2018, at least 47 percent of them have been memes. They are highlighted here. The use of memes, Ms. Donovan said, is a way for Mr. Musk to signal to his followers that he is “in the know and keeping up with internet culture.”
Since October 2018, at least 47 percent of them have been memes. They are highlighted here. The use of memes, Ms. Donovan said, is a way for Mr. Musk to signal to his followers that he is “in the know and keeping up with internet culture.”
During Mr. Musk’s early use of Twitter, he regularly posted photos that promoted his businesses: SpaceX rocket launches and Tesla car assembly lines (as well as the occasional bottle of tequila).
During Mr. Musk’s early use of Twitter, he regularly posted photos that promoted his businesses: SpaceX rocket launches and Tesla car assembly lines (as well as the occasional bottle of tequila).
But in 2018, as he struggled to hit ambitious production targets at Tesla, his posting behavior shifted. In October that year, he shared an image of a fake news article that said he had bought the popular video game Fortnite in order to “save these kids from eternal virginity.”
But in 2018, as he struggled to hit ambitious production targets at Tesla, his posting behavior shifted. In October that year, he shared an image of a fake news article that said he had bought the popular video game Fortnite in order to “save these kids from eternal virginity.”
Since then, Mr. Musk’s use of memes, which are highlighted, has accelerated.
Since then, Mr. Musk’s use of memes, which are highlighted, has accelerated.
He has posted certain imagery repeatedly over time, some more explicit than others. One meme features an erotic illustration of a praying monk and a woman with her backside exposed to him. Another shows a hand about to flick the testicl*s of a tiger.
He has posted certain imagery repeatedly over time, some more explicit than others. One meme features an erotic illustration of a praying monk and a woman with her backside exposed to him. Another shows a hand about to flick the testicl*s of a tiger.
Then there are topics that are popular among political fringes. Mr. Musk has tweeted many memes about taking the “red-pill,” a reference to the movie “The Matrix” that has been adopted by far-right groups as a way to condemn liberal ideology.
Then there are topics that are popular among political fringes. Mr. Musk has tweeted many memes about taking the “red-pill,” a reference to the movie “The Matrix” that has been adopted by far-right groups as a way to condemn liberal ideology.
He has also tweeted about Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency based on a joke about a Shiba Inu dog. The currency skyrocketed in value after Mr. Musk began posting about it, but it has since crashed, losing roughly 85 percent in value since its peak in May 2021.
He has also tweeted about Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency based on a joke about a Shiba Inu dog. The currency skyrocketed in value after Mr. Musk began posting about it, but it has since crashed, losing roughly 85 percent in value since its peak in May 2021.
Mr. Musk did not respond to a request for comment about his activity. At Twitter, as with many of his other companies, Mr. Musk has no traditional press team. Instead, he tweets.
Since he created his account in June 2009, Mr. Musk has posted more than 21,000 times. In recent years, that has meant posting all hours of the day, most days of the week.
Mr. Musk has “made himself unignorable by becoming king of Twitter,” Ms. Donovan added.
Over a 48-hour period in November, a moment when he touted record activity on the social network under his leadership, Mr. Musk posted 60 times. His posts included commentary on the collapse of a cryptocurrency and combative responses to critiques about his workplace policies. In one instance, he issued a decree about parody accounts after users changed their profile names to imitate him.
Many of his missives quickly became popular among his followers.
48 hours of Elon Musk’s tweets
Circles representing Musk’s tweets are sized by the total retweets, likes, replies and quote tweets in response to what he posted.
A chart of Mr. Musk’s original tweets, replies and quote tweets over a two-day period in November. Sixty tweets are shown, with one tweet getting as many as 513,000 interactions.
Original tweet
Reply
Quote tweet
“Going forward, accounts engaged
in parody must include ‘parody’ in
their name, not just in bio.”
6 p.m.
452,000
interactions
“Quite the day!”
Nov. 11, 2022
243,000
185,000
“Hit all-time high of
active users today”
6 A.m.
296,000
482,000
NooN
Comments on the
news that FTX, Sam
Bankman-Fried’s
crypto exchange,
had collapsed.
“As Twitter pursues the
goal of elevating citizen
journalism, media elite
will try everything to stop
that from happening”
6 P.m.
331,000
254,000
NOV. 12
513,000
Posts “🪦🤖️” along with a status of
“Soon,” indicating his intention to
remove bots from the platform.
6 A.m.
Another Sam
Bankman-Fried
meme.
NOON
Calls out critic of
Twitter office policy,
claiming post was
false.
6 P.m.
Original tweet
Reply
Quote tweet
5:51 p.m. on November 10
“Going forward, accounts
engaged in parody must
include ‘parody’ in their
name, not just in bio.”
6 p.m.
452,000
interactions
11:30 p.m.
“Quite the day!”
243,000
Nov. 11, 2022
12:34 a.m.
“Hit all-time high of
active users today”
185,000
6 A.m.
296,000
7:30 a.m. on Nov. 11
The Reuters Twitter
account shared a
story about Tesla.
Five minutes later,
Mr. Musk replied,
“False.”
482,000
NOON
9:30 a.m.
“As Twitter pursues the goal of
elevating citizen journalism,
media elite will try everything
to stop that from happening”
Afternoon
Mr. Musk began discussing the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX. His posts included memes of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s face.
6 P.m.
331,000
254,000
NOV. 12
513,000
He later posted “🪦🤖️” along with a status of “Soon,”indicating his intention to remove bots from the platform.
6 A.m.
The next morning, he posted
another Sam Bankman-Fried meme.
NOON
3:54 p.m.
Mr. Musk called out a critic of
Twitter’s remote work policy,
condemning what he posted
as “false.”
135,000
6 P.m.
Original tweet
Reply
Quote tweet
At 5:51 p.m. on Nov. 10, Mr. Musk tweeted, “Going forward, accounts engaged in parody must include ‘parody’ in their name, not just in bio.”
6 p.m.
452,000
interactions
11:30 p.m.
“Quite the day!”
12:34 a.m.
In a reply to himself, Mr. Musk said:
“Hit all-time high of active users today”
243,000
Nov. 11, 2022
185,000
6 A.m.
296,000
At 7:30 a.m. on Nov. 11 the Reuters Twitter
account shared a story about Tesla. Five minutes
later, Mr. Musk replied, “False.” He then opined on
how he will make legacy journalism obsolete,
using his favorite 🤣 emoji several times in jokes
and replies with followers.
482,000
9:30 a.m.
“As Twitter pursues the goal of
elevating citizen journalism,
media elite will try everything
to stop that from happening”
NOON
In the afternoon, Mr. Musk began discussing the
collapse of the huge crypto exchange FTX. His
posts included memes of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s face.
6 P.m.
331,000
254,000
At roughly 11:30 p.m., Mr. Musk tweeted
“🪦🤖️” with the status “Soon”, seemingly
referencing the elimination of bots on the
platform, a frequent preoccupation of his.
NOV. 12
513,000
6 A.m.
After a nearly 10-hour break, Mr. Musk
returned to replying to his followers.
At 11:12 a.m. he tweeted another
meme about Mr. Bankman-Fried.
NOON
3:54 p.m.
Mr. Musk called out a critic of Twitter’s remote
work policy, condemning what he posted as “false.”
135,000
6 P.m.
Notes: All times are in Pacific Time.
It is unclear exactly what Mr. Musk sees in his feed. The exact sequence depends on whether he has chosen to receive algorithmic recommendations or just tweets from accounts he follows. (He has previously tweeted that people are being “manipulated by the algorithm.”)
His activity increasingly consists of replying to users who have mentioned him. When he responds to accounts that he does not follow, he frequently chooses those that have complimented or praised him: In dozens of instances over the past six months, according to the Times analysis, he has replied to tweets from users whose account descriptions mention that they support or invest in companies owned by Mr. Musk, or that they are fans of his leadership.
Raise your hand if you think @ElonMusk should make public all internal discussions about the decision to censor the @NYPost’s story on Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 Election in the interest of Transparency.
Elon Musk loves to reply
Eight-week rolling average of Musk’s tweets, quote tweets and replies
A chart shows Mr. Musk tweeting with increasing frequency since he joined the platform in 2010, with a marked rise beginning in 2018, especially in the number of replies. At the end of 2022, he was averaging over 25 replies a day, his highest average ever.
5
10
15
20 tweets
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
Replies
Original tweets
Quote tweets
Note: Includes tweets through the end of 2022.
There are times when he second guesses what he broadcasts.
Over the past two years, he has deleted hundreds of tweets within hours of posting them. According to the PolitiTweet website, which archives all of Mr. Musk’s tweets, he has also deleted dozens of tweets in the months since he acquired Twitter.
On Nov. 14, for example, Mr. Musk tweeted that he would be “working and sleeping” at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco until the site was fixed.
I’ve been at Twitter SF HQ all night. Will be working & sleeping here until org is fixed.
A website tracking Mr. Musk’s private jet movement suggested that he traveled away from San Francisco around that time. He deleted the tweet 18 hours after first posting it.
But for a person with as large a follower base as Mr. Musk has, deleting tweets may do little to change how widely seen or influential those posts become when they are first published.
“Millions of people see his tweets, not many will notice when they are deleted,” Ms. Donovan said.
Many tweets that have landed Mr. Musk in hot water remain online.
In 2018, a few weeks after Mr. Musk had smoked marijuana during an on-camera interview for Joe Rogan’s podcast, Mr. Musk tweeted that he had the funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share.
Experts began to question whether his entire feed was being produced in jest, and pointed out the repeated marijuana references in his tweets (including his proposed funding price).
That incident led to charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and later a settlement that included monitoring of what Mr. Musk could post about Tesla on Twitter. The incident also led to a lawsuit from shareholders seeking billions of dollars in damages the takeover proposal never materialized. On Friday, a jury ruled in Mr. Musk’s favor.
Last week, Mr. Musk joined an investor call as Tesla reported its recent quarterly earnings, which showed a respectable jump in profits despite a growing list of problems plaguing the company. The automaker’s mixed performance last year had led many to question whether Mr. Musk’s focus and attention on Twitter had meant that he was neglecting his duties at Tesla.
Mr. Musk deflected that criticism on the earnings call, suggesting that his millions of Twitter followers were a sign of his popularity.
“I might not be popular with some people,” he said, “but for the vast majority of people, my follower count speaks for itself.”