Anyone who has been following Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter) account knows that the tech billionaire has said things that were better kept to himself. In a recent case that brought Musk to court once again, he admitted that some of his posts may have been detrimental to the company.
Elon Musk Admits His Faults
The X owner is the kind of person who sticks to his guns, so the admission of fault is kind of surprising, but there it is. Musk himself said so as he was being deposed for a defamation suit filed by 22-year-old Ben Brody.
Musk allegedly fueled a conspiracy theory stating that the plaintiff was involved in a brawl in Oregon between the Proud Boys and a neo-Nazi group. It was then confirmed that the man in the video only bore a vague resemblance to Brody, as reported by The Verge.
This led to Brody being accused of being an undercover government agent as trolls firmly believed in the conspiracy that Musk helped create. The X owner would even engage with the users who kept bringing up their own conclusions and agreeing with them.
At some point, Musk even said that Brody's attorney was only pursuing the case since it would get them a lot of money. Still, questions were brought up that led to Musk admitting his faults, especially with how his posts affected the social media site and its business.
When asked about the acquisition and impact his social media presence had on the site, he said that he "may have done more to financially impair the company than to help it," although he still justified the way he spoke on X.
Musk continued to say that he did not guide his posts by what is financially beneficial, but by what he believes is "interesting or important or entertaining to the public." In retrospect, it's the same belief that has pushed the company to a downward slope.
Brody's lawyer brought up the influence that his replies had on the worsening of the situation, and the tech billionaire responded by saying that it was only a reply, which means that it didn't have that much reach.
"The replies get 100 times less attention than a primary tweet. So this was certainly not any attempt to generate advertising revenue. In fact, generally advertisers would not want to advertise with content that is contentious," Musk added.
What Musk's Candor Has Done So Far
Speaking what's on your mind is not always the best case for a lot of situations, but that is a notion that is apparently lost on the X owner. In several instances, Musk spoke out about issues even if it was obviously something that would draw backlash.
From antisemitic statements to publicly shaming rivals, Musk has driven a lot of business out of the company, particularly advertisers. Many ad partners have exited the site whether it's out of fear that their ads will be shown alongside hateful content, or because they do not agree with the owner's ideals.
