Elon Musk hasn’t tweeted anything particularly crazy for a while now.
Tesla took steps to limit his Twitter rants after his tirades caused the company’s stocks to plummet periodically throughout 2019.
The defamation trial that resulted from him calling the British diver who helped rescue 13 people trapped in a cave, a ‘pedo’ didn’t help things along, either.
He has had some weird moments on social media, since then, but nothing that would really land him in trouble.
Then the coronavirus pandemic shook the world, and he couldn’t resist sharing his thoughts, and for some reason, Twitter is fine with it.
Per Mashable:
Musk’s tweets, which included the false gem that children are “essentially immune,” appear to be in violation of Twitter’s new rules ostensibly aimed at stopping the spread of potentially dangerous COVID-19 misinformation. However, despite what common sense might suggest, it seems the disjointed and ill-informed musings of the entitled billionaire are in fact totally OK with the social media giant.
Here’s that tweet about children and old people :
Kids are not immune – I repeat, KIDS ARE NOT IMMUNE.
He is right about the elderly and people with existing conditions. They are at higher risk. Unfortunately at this stage, everyone is at risk. It’s a highly contagious virus.
His statement contradicts the rule on Twitter prohibiting “Claims that specific groups, nationalities are never susceptible to COVID-19”.
It also reads a lot like an example, provided by Twitter, of prohibited content: “COVID-19 does not infect children because we haven’t seen any cases of children being sick.”
Despite this, Twitter doesn’t have a problem with it.
A Twitter spokesperson confirmed [on] Thursday afternoon in an email to Mashable: “We reviewed the Tweets and they don’t violate our rules,” wrote the spokesperson.
Okay…
Musk went on to suggest certain off-label treatments for COVID-19, positing that chloroquine or Hydroxychloroquine might do the trick.
A spokesperson for the US Food and Drug Admission (FDA), says that drug has not been approved for use in COVID-19 patients.
Musk appears to have taken Twitter’s lack of interest in his stride, offering up more intelligent gems like this:
He also told the world that there will be no coronavirus cases in the US by April.
Spreading misinformation like this would probably land him in jail in South Africa.
I’m sure he’ll gift us with plenty more unsolicited and ill-informed opinions before this is over.
[source:mashable]
