Over the weekend, Elon Musk said something outlandish.
I know what you’re thinking: Be more specific. Well, this time the Tesla CEO indicated he might launch a social network — or, at the very least, wouldn’t rule it out. “Am giving serious thought to this,” he replied to a Twitter user who asked whether Musk would consider building his own rival platform. Musk had earlier criticized Twitter.
"Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy," Musk tweeted. "What should be done?"
Musk actually launching his own platform wouldn’t be quite as unbelievable as some of the other big plans he’s floated to his audience of nearly 80 million users.
While some might consider having that many followers a big responsibility, Musk seems to tweet whatever the hell he wants without any thought to the consequences. And his followers listen: Each tweet garners thousands of likes, retweets and replies.
In 280 characters or less, his famously bonkers tweets — which have quite literally been turned into a coloring book — ignite beefs with tech hotshots and politicians alike, shake markets (think Dogecoin, GameStop and his very own Tesla) and have been the announcement platform for numerousloftygoals. And because Tesla axed its press team in 2020, Musk’s tweets are often the only window the average person can get into the inner workings of his companies.
Musk’s tweets have gotten him in a lot of legal trouble more than once, most recently with the SEC. In 2018, he made an agreement with regulators over fraud charges after he tweeted he could take Tesla private without filing needed regulatory notices, requiring him to get his tweets pre-approved (though he is trying to wiggle out of this agreement at the moment).
How often do Musk’s tweeted promises become reality? Here’s a timeline of what he’s said and what he’s actually done.
March 14: Musk picks a fight with Putin
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, Musk challenged Russian leader Vladimir Putin to hand-to-hand combat, because of course he did. He said the stakes of their fight “are [Ukraine].” He even doubled down on this offer, later tweeting: “If [Putin] is afraid to fight, I will agree to use only my left hand and I am not even left-handed.”
As far as we know, Putin has not taken Musk up on this offer.
Feb. 26: Musk promises to provide Starlink terminals and internet service to Ukraine
When Mykhailo Fedorov, vice prime minister of Ukraine and its minister of Digital Transformation, asked Musk to bolster Starlink internet service in the country, Musk responded that Starlink services have been activated in Ukraine and terminals were “en route.” Starlink is SpaceX’s internet service, and the donation has provided a reliable fallback as other internet service providers struggle to stay on in the region. According to The Washington Post, more than 5,000 Starlink terminals are active in the country.
Musk followed through: Terminals to operate the service arrived March 1, with a second shipment arriving March 9 that also included power adapters for car cigarette lighters, solar and battery packs and generators.
Dec. 13, 2021: Musk announces SpaceX carbon capture program
Musk revealed that SpaceX was getting into carbon capture technology, tweeting that the company is starting a program to “take CO2 out of atmosphere & turn it into rocket fuel.” He also asked people to “join if interested,” and in true, vague Musk fashion, didn’t give any further details on what the program is or how one could “join.” He tweeted the program “will also be important for Mars,” one of Musk’s biggest goals for SpaceX.
There hasn’t been an update on this concept since his December tweet. Experts have also begun to doubt the efficacy of carbon capture: One study from Stanford found that carbon capture technologies would only reduce a small portion of CO2 emissions, and would simultaneously increase air pollution.
Oct. 31, 2021: Musk says he will sell Tesla stock to end world hunger
A CNN Business article with the headline, “2% of Elon Musk's wealth could help solve world hunger, says director of UN food scarcity organization,” prompted a reaction from Musk. He tweeted: “If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it.” He added that the project must include “open source accounting.”
This prompted David Beasley, who oversees the U.N. World Food Programme, to respond that a donation of that size would “prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation.” Musk asked Beasley to publish “current & proposed spending” on this idea. Beasley responded several more times asking Musk to meet up, championing the World Food Programme’s work and how the math of his donation would work out, but Musk stopped responding.
According to Fortune, Musk did make a $5.7 billion donation in November a few weeks after the interaction, but did not disclose what charity he donated to.
May 12, 2021: Musk says Tesla will suspend bitcoin payments
Musk tweeted that Tesla would stop accepting bitcoin for vehicle purchases due to the environmental impacts of the fossil fuels used in mining the cryptocurrency. He also said that Tesla would hold onto the bitcoin it already has for future transactions when “mining transitions to more sustainable energy.” (Tesla held about $2 billion in bitcoin at the end of 2021.) About a month later, he tweeted that Tesla would resume accepting bitcoin payments when its miners can show they are using roughly 50% clean energy.
Though not much has been announced about this since last summer, Tesla did say in its October earnings report that it “may in the future restart the practice of transacting in cryptocurrencies.”
March 23, 2021: Musk says SpaceX will put people on Mars before 2030
One of SpaceX’s biggest goals is to make humanity interplanetary, and Musk believes that goal is only a few years away. Last March, he tweeted that SpaceX would be landing starships on Mars “well before” 2030. “The really hard threshold is making Mars Base Alpha self-sustaining,” he said.
SpaceX’s major mission is making space more accessible (the company did send four people into orbit in September for a few days). But he’s made promises like this before. In 2018, he said 2022 would be the year SpaceX launched two cargo ships to Mars, and 2024 would be the year the company took people there.
Jan. 21, 2021: Musk says he will donate $100 million to carbon capture technology
Last January, Musk tweeted: “Am donating $100M towards a prize for best carbon capture technology.” He followed it up with, “Details next week.”
In this case, the details did come a few weeks later: Musk partnered with nonprofit XPRIZE Foundation to fund a $100 million competition for the team that could “demonstrate a working solution at a scale of at least 1000 (carbon) tonnes removed per year; model their costs at a scale of 1 million tonnes per year; and show a pathway to achieving a scale of gigatonnes per year in future,” according to the website. It’s the largest incentive prize in history.
The competition will last until Earth Day in 2025.
March 25, 2020: Musk promises to help source ventilators for COVID-19 treatment
Toward the end of March in 2020, after earlier downplaying COVID-19 (literally tweeting, “The coronavirus panic is dumb”), Musk attempted to lend a hand in helping with COVID-19 hospitalizations by procuring ventilators for several cities. He tweeted on March 25: “Giga New York will reopen for ventilator production as soon as humanly possible. We will do anything in our power to help the citizens of New York.” He later tweeted that he delivered 1,000 ventilators to Los Angeles that he sourced from China, which California Gov. Gavin Newsom called “a heroic effort.”
Musk reportedly didn’t deliver the right kind of ventilator, however. Rather than invasive ventilators used to intubate COVID-19 patients, Musk delivered BiPAP and CPAP machines, which are used to treat sleep apnea.
July 8, 2018: Musk plans to rescue Thai youth soccer team with a submarine
Who could forget when Musk attempted to play Tony Stark to try to help rescue a Thai youth soccer team trapped in a cave? Musk tweeted out videos testing out a “tiny, kid-sized submarine” that he wanted to use to rescue the soccer team. The only problem: The rescuers didn’t end up needing the technology. His tweets about the tests came hours after reports that four of the children had already been rescued.
Musk later lashed out at Vernon Unsworth, the diver who saved the kids, calling him a "pedo guy" on Twitter (an insult which resulted in a defamation lawsuit that Musk eventually won).
“I didn't literally mean he was a pedophile," Musk said on the witness stand in December 2019.
March 26, 2018: Musk promises to sell bricks made from tunneling materials
Musk decided to get into the brick business in early 2018. He tweeted that his tunneling company, The Boring Co., would offer “lifesize LEGO-like interlocking bricks made from tunneling rock” as merch to create sculptures and buildings. A day later he tweeted: “And they said I’d never be a rock star.” The bricks were meant to be sold at 10 cents a piece, and would be given away for free to affordable housing projects.
Well, if becoming a “rock star” is making 500 bricks that the company didn’t end up selling, he definitely did it. YouTube channel “What’s Inside” reviewed one of the bricks in October 2020, two years after the limited release, in which the show’s host revealed that he actually purchased his brick for $200 because Musk gave the 500 bricks to employees, rather than putting them up for sale. It’s unclear whether or not Boring Co. plans to release more bricks.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE