Social media plays a key role in how people interact today. One issue that will be consistent for years to come is determining the meaning behind someone’s words. No doubt, you’ve probably heard the news that Elon Musk is forced off the board of Tesla after settling with the SEC. All this stems from a tweet that Musk made a while back where he toys with the idea of making the company privately traded.
The SEC used this tweet from Musk to justify a lawsuit, claiming securities fraud. That begs the question, does intent matter? There could be an argument made that Musk was kidding when he made the tweet. As an aside: we certainly live in interesting times as social media now plays a role in court cases.
The last two words, “funding secured” are what result in the settlement that keeps Musk off the board of directors for at least three years. Some people attempt to link this tweet to a podcast with Joe Rogan in which Musk takes a hit from a joint. Four Twenty is synonymous to the act of smoking marijuana and some believe that this was an attempt at humor. If that is the case, the US government did not take the joke lightly.
Ultimately, the future of the company will most likely retain the vision of the former CEO. It may actually benefit Musk to be out of the board. Of course, it’s a double-edged sword. Losing control of a company you founded is less than ideal, but having more time to focus on his real goals like achieving missions to Mars and furthering SpaceX will keep Musk hard at work.
Thank you so much for posting this because it is honestly the first place I heard of this actually being a thing. Although I am not surprised that Twitter is responsible for Elon's removal, it does show how far social media has come in the past three years alone.
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