Elon Musk, the world’s richest man (worth 219.1 billion) is no stranger to letting his thoughts out on Twitter. The founder of both Tesla and Space X took to Twitter Monday challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin to “single combat” over Ukraine.
Musk wrote Putin’s name written in Russian and noted “Stakes are Ukraine” where Ukraine is spelled out in Ukrainian lettering.
On March 5th Musk posted a video to his twitter page with the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Following Russia’s invasion on February 24, Musk provided Ukraine with access to SpaceX’s satellite-internet system Starlink – a system of some 2,000 satellites which provide web access to underserved areas of the world. President Zelensky thanked Musk, tweeting: “I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds.”
Musk reiterated in a later tweet that he is “absolutely serious” about the offer. When asked if he would be surprised if Putin accepted the challenge, Musk insisted it “would be an honor.”
“If Putin could so easily humiliate the west, then he would accept the challenge,” Musk wrote in another response on Twitter. “But he will not.”
Ukraine’s vice prime minister and head of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, also weighed in on Elon’s challenge: “I am sure that @elonmusk can send Putin to Jupiter.”
Since Musk tweeted his challenge to Putin, he has been mentioned on Twitter over 123K times. Twitter remains the highest site of discourse surrounding the Musk Vs Putin fight tracking 98.4K mentions in the last 24 hours.
While overall sentiment scores regarding Musk’s tweet remain largely neutral (78K of mentions have been neutral) some Twitter users have has a comical response to the tweet while others have deemed his remarks as insensitive to those who are on the ground in Ukraine fighting.
Some users have also pointed to the likelihood that Musk’s account could be suspended for his reckless tweeting.
Conversations on Twitter that center around Elon Musk have also led to an increased number of mentions surrounding his business ventures. Tesla, Dogecoin, Bitcoin, and SpaceX have all been accounted for as some of the top terms of discussion within this thread.
Since Elon represents wealth and power within the United States, increased mentions of Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world, have also been initiated alongside this conversation. Discussion of inflation in relation to the ongoing war has also surfaced as result of Musk’s Twitter activity.
As the conversation unfolds, the Social Media Listening Center will keep you updated on the latest trending topics as they relate to Musk’s threat and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
