Since acquiring Twitter for $44 billion in 2022, Elon Musk has transformed the social media site into X, establishing it as his preferred platform for communication. He spends hours each day posting on the platform, where he currently boasts nearly 238 million followers.
However, Musk's commitment to X may be reaching its peak.
Last Wednesday, April 8, a verified account named @elonmusk posted its first video on the video-sharing platform TikTok. In the video, Musk discusses the future, featuring edited highlights of achievements and promotional material from his companies, SpaceX and Tesla Motors. The video was titled "Ad Astra," a Latin phrase meaning "To the Stars."
The video showcased promotional content not only from SpaceX and Tesla Motors but also from Musk's brain-computer interface company Neuralink and his tunneling startup, The Boring Company. The minute-long video has already been viewed over 2.1 million times. Musk does not appear to have shared this video on his X platform.
Recently, an account with the username @elonmusk also appeared on the social platform Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms, Inc.. The account initially had a verification mark and approximately 18,000 followers but was set to private and had not posted any content. According to Instagram's official guidelines, the platform can grant verification badges or allow users to adjust account privacy settings.
"I love to create," the @elonmusk Instagram account's bio initially read. However, the account was later altered again, removing both the bio and the verification mark.
The emergence of these accounts coincides with Musk's preparations to lead SpaceX towards an Initial Public Offering (IPO). To achieve this goal, Musk needs to increase public awareness of SpaceX to attract investment. This potential IPO could potentially make the 54-year-old tech mogul, already the world's wealthiest person, the world's first trillionaire.
Musk has previously expressed dismissive attitudes towards social media companies that compete with X. In 2022, he temporarily banned Twitter users from promoting their accounts on other social platforms, including Instagram and Facebook.
In 2018, following public outcry over Facebook's handling of user data, Musk deleted the Facebook pages for Tesla Motors and SpaceX. That same year, he also stated he had deleted his personal Instagram account. In a recent interview with podcast host Joe Rogan, he expressed concern that "Instagram might actually create more unhappiness than less."
Web archives indicate that a TikTok account named @elonmusk existed as early as 2024, but it had not posted any content and lacked an official TikTok verification badge. TikTok awards verification badges to notable figures on its platform to prevent account impersonation.
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