In a free-wheeling New York Times interview, Tesla CEO Elon Musk told columnist Maureen Dowd that his Twitter direct message mostly consists of memes. For this reason, he is not overly worried about hackers accessing his account.
Elon Musk is the owner and CEO of Tesla, a giant manufacturer of cars and trucks in the US.
Elon Musk was one of the over 100 high-profile Twitter accounts that are compromised as a part of a Bitcoin scam on July 15th. According to the company, the attackers may have downloaded the private Twitter direct messages as well as personal information in the process. However, the tech giant Twitter said that none of those accounts were verified, as Musk is.
Elon Musk Always Wants More Twitter Followers.
The Tesla CEO told Dowd that he is not concerned about his DMs being released in public. He added that people can pick some sections in his DMs that sound bad out of context. But overall, his Twitter direct message mostly consists of swapping memes and getting more Twitter followers.
During the interview with Dowd, Musk said that he has a secret account on Instagram. He uses this secret account to see the links of the things sent to him by different people. The Tesla CEO also said that he thinks that he might have had COVID-19 in January.
Musk and His Take About the COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdown Implementations.
The COVID-19 pandemic has already taken the lives of millions of people around the world. According to Musk, the reality is that COVID-19 is a very dangerous virus especially if one is an elderly or has a pre-existing condition. He added that it entirely makes sense to implement a lockdown if a person is vulnerable. However, Musk added that if a person is not vulnerable to COVID-19 infection, it does not make sense to have a lockdown.
Moreover, the Tesla CEO went toe to toe with Fremont, California officials. This is about his plans to reopen the car factory of his company there in May. According to the officials from the said county, Musk’s factory violated a local shelter in place order.
Due to his disagreement with the Fremont, California officials, the Tesla CEO decided to close his factory that is located there. He then said that he will move the closed factory to Texas.
Elon Breaks The Lockdown, Vents on Twitter.
The Tesla CEO became furious when the officials of the aforementioned county did not allow him to reopen his factory and said that they have violated the lockdown and stay in place implementations. However, other companies and business establishments were given the go signal to resume their operations.
He also told Dowd in the interview that he wears a mask on the factory floor.
Moreover, the most puzzling part of Musk’s New York Times interview was how Dowd painted the Tesla CEO’s personal relationships. According to Dowd, the titan can certainly be romantic. The columnist even listed some of his more high-profile relationships. This includes Musk’s current girlfriend Grimes. She also mentioned the actresses Amber Heard and Talulah Riley. However, Dowd did not mention Justine– Musk’s first wife whom he divorced in 2008. In addition, Musk and Justin have five sons.
Furthermore, the Tesla CEO does not grant many interviews. For this reason, it is interesting to witness him answer questions regarding his company Tesla, SpaceX, AI, Facebook, and Twitter. Added to this list is the copy cat tweet that he sent to Amazon and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos.
If ever you are wondering, Musk said that it is okay for him to be called “one of our great geniuses” by US President Donald Trump. Trump called him this name after the SpaceX’s Crew Dragon launch in May. According to Musk, he will take it as a compliment.
What’s More Important than Memes and Twitter Followers?
Last July 25, Friday, the US president complimented Musk on Twitter. He said that Musk’s decision to build what is expected to be the largest auto plant anywhere in the world on Texas is a great job. The US presided also added that the Tesla CEO kept his word to him and that Texas and Tesla are big winners. At the end of his tweet, Trump said, “MADE IN THE USA!”
The Tesla CEO replied to Trump’s tweet. He thanked the US president on behalf of the Tesla team. Musk also said that they are looking forward to building Giga Texas.
The new factory is going to produce the Cybertruck. This will be manufactured along with the Tesla Semi, Model Y, as well as Model 3 for customers who live in the eastern US.
In addition, Tesla will invest a total amount of $1.1 billion in the new factory within its first five years of operation.
Elon Musk Slams Twitter and Facebook
On July 25, the Tesla CEO criticized the social media platforms Twitter and Facebook. He first slammed Twitter. Later on, he said that he has not heard about Facebook in years now.
In his tweet where he said “Twitter sucks,” a fellow user of the platform replied that Twitter is still much better than Facebook. To which he replied, “(Slow drag on cigarette) Facebook? Haven’t heard that name in years.
The criticism came after Musk’s Twitter account has got compromised by hackers. These cybercriminals ran a Bitcoin scam on the social media platform, posting tweets where they promoted the scam almost as fast as they were deleted.
Conclusion
The Tesla CEO was the first victim of the hacking. This happened when the hackers posted a tweet on his account. In the tweet, they promised to double all the payments said to a Bitcoin address.
Furthermore, Twitter has already addressed and gave further details about the massive crypto hack. According to the tech giant, hackers accessed the direct message inbox of up 36 out of 130 target users. This includes one elected government official in the Netherlands.
The social media company also said that it was communicating directly with the affected account owners. It added that it will share updates when it has already returned.