Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, recently tweeted a photo of himself promoting Twitter monetization features. However, instead of paying attention to Musk’s tweet, many users noticed that he appeared to be logged into another account, @ErmnMusk, which was later deleted. The account had used a photo of Musk’s three-year-old son as its avatar.
While some believe this to be Musk’s burner account, it’s unclear if this is true. Many of the tweets on the possible burner account were mundane, including tweets about having no followers. However, some tweets were questionable, such as when @ErmnMusk replied to a tweet making fun of former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, who pled guilty to billions of dollars in wire fraud. The reply implied that Bankman-Fried risked his billionaire status for sex.
Other tweets appeared to be from Musk’s two-year-old son, X, who he calls X Æ A-XII. When Airbnb founder Brian Chesky tweeted about being in a nightclub, @ErmnMusk replied, “I wish I was old enough to go to nightclubs. They sound so fun.” In another tweet, @ErmnMusk posted, “I will finally turn 3 on May 4th!”, which is consistent with X’s actual birth date.
While some believe that Musk is trolling everyone, there is evidence that suggests that @ErmnMusk could be his burner account. The account was created soon after Musk purchased Twitter, and the image of X – uploaded on November 29, 2022 – doesn’t seem to have appeared anywhere else online before this.
Additionally, programmer Travis Brown pulled 99 “profile snapshots” of the account, which show that it has used the name “Elon Test” for most of its existence, except for when it used the name “Star Sapphire.”
Despite the controversy surrounding the possible burner account, it’s important to note that many people use burner accounts on social media. Burner accounts allow people to post without revealing their identity and can be used for various reasons, such as to avoid harassment or to express opinions without consequences. It remains to be seen if @ErmnMusk is truly Musk’s burner account, but either way, it’s a reminder that even public figures like Musk have a private life online.
