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TechElon Musk

Elon Musk Quit Twitter—and It Lasted All of Three Days

By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
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By
Chris Morris
Chris Morris
Former Contributing Writer
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 5, 2019, 12:27 PM ET

Last Friday, Elon Musk, entrepreneur and power Twitter user, signaled he might be done with the social media site, saying “Not sure about good of Twitter” before announcing “going offline.”

The sabbatical lasted just over 72 hours.

Musk was back on Twitter late Monday, touting the latest successful tests from SpaceX.

Great work by SpaceX Dragon team & Airborne! To be clear, we’ve only done 1 multi-parachute test of Mk3 design, so 9 more left to reach 10 successful tests in a row. https://t.co/Q814zVoW4S

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 4, 2019

It’s unclear how serious Musk was in his Friday messages. His account is unlike that of most corporate leaders, posting things that people debate might be real statements or might be off the cuff sarcastic comments or jokes.

As he questioned the usefulness of Twitter, though, Musk did give his blessing to a rival social media site, noting “Reddit still seems good.”

This wasn’t the first time (even this year!) that Musk has said he was stepping away from Twitter. In June, he changed his profile name to “Daddy DotCom” and announced he was deleting his Twitter account.

Musk has certainly had his share of headaches due to Twitter. An unrealized claim that he was taking Tesla private resulted in a major row with the SEC, ending with a $20 million fine and his ouster as chairman of that company. And late last month, a judge in Los Angeles refused to dismiss a defamation suit from the British cave rescue diver he referred to as “pedo guy” last summer in the rescue of a Thai soccer team from a flooded cave.

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Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.

About the Author
By Chris MorrisFormer Contributing Writer

Chris Morris is a former contributing writer at Fortune, covering everything from general business news to the video game and theme park industries.

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