Elon Musk has completed a purchase of Twitter - and he's certainly no stranger to the social media platform. After many months of speculation, controversy and potential lawsuits, it seems the deal might finally become a reality after the American billionaire posted a vido of himself walking into Twitter's headquarters while carrying a sink.
"Entering Twitter HQ - let that sink in!" wrote the Tesla boss, who was seemingly sending a message to the doubters, and he also updated his Twitter bio to read "chief twit". The world's richest man has been coming up with ways for the platform to change and 'improve' - with many fearing it could lead to payments, less moderation and banned accounts being reinstated.
When Musk first revealed plans to buy Twitter, he said he wanted to clean up spam accounts and preserve it as a venue for free speech.
The deal was initially called off, with Musk claiming he was concerned about the number of fake accounts, but Twitter executives said he was worried about the price.
A lawsuit was filed to hold the SpaceX boss to the deal and he eventually revived his takeover plans, but the purchase had to be completed buy this Friday (October 28) to avoid Musk facing a trial over the contract.
Musk is known for being very outspoken on Twitter and producing controversial tweets which have caused offence and had a powerful impact on stock markets.
"Look I know I sometimes say or post strange things but that’s just how my brain works," he said on Saturday Night Live.
“To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say ‘I reinvented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship, did you also think I was going to be a chill, normal dude?’”
Here's a look at some of Musk's wildest and most bizarre tweets:
Calling a cave rescue hero a 'pedo guy'
One of the heroic men who helped rescue 12 boys trapped in a cave in Thailand back in June 2018 was subjected to abuse from Musk on Twitter.
Musk had claimed his prototype submarine could be used to rescue the group trapped in the flooded Tham Luang cave.
But after the boys were saved, rescuer Vernon Unsworth told CNN that Mr Musk "can stick his submarine where it hurts" - claiming it had "absolutely no chance of working" and it was a "PR stunt".
In an astonishing ran, Musk hit back in a series of tweets, writing: "Sorry pedo guy, you really did ask for it."
He deleted the insult but faced a backlash from the public, along with threats of a lawsuit from the volunteer diver.
In December 2019, a federal court in California heard Mr Unsworth was left feeling "humiliated, ashamed, dirtied," by the tweet from the billionaire, but Musk's laywers argued it was no more than a playground insult and did not represent an allegation of paedophilia.
A jury agreed with Musk, who was found not liable in the defamation case, and he told reporters outside the court: "My faith in humanity is restored."
'Buying Man United' claim
Manchester United fans were sent into a frenzy in August when the tech mogul posted a tweet claiming that he was about to buy the club.
Red Devils supporters, who are mostly desperate to get rid of current owners the Glazer family, believed he was going to be their saviour.
In a rather bemusing social media post which sparked excitement and speculation across the fan base, he wrote: "Also, I'm buying Manchester United ur welcome."
However, Musk confirmed he was joking just a couple of hours later, tweeting: "No, this is a long-running joke on Twitter. I’m not buying any sports teams."
Twitter poll on Russia's war against Ukraine
In one of his most bizarre moves, Musk sey up a Twitter poll to let his followers vote on how Russia's war with Ukraine should end.
Perhaps thinking he could end the war, the billionaire thought it would be sensible to put forward a number of suggestions, including redoing elections of annexed regions under UN supervision.
" Russia leaves if this is the will of the people," he wrote.
He also said that Crimea should become a formal part of Russia as it "has been since 1783", as well as adding that Ukraine should remain neutral after the conflict.
This didn't go down well, with the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, simply telling him to "f*** off".
While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hit back with his own poll, asking his followers which Musk they preffered: "The one who supports Ukraine, or the one that supports Russia?"
Challenging Putin to single combat
Musk also tried to end the war the veyr old-fashioned way, by challenging Vladimir Putin to a fight in 'single combat'.
He issued the challenge in a tweet in march this year which said: "I hereby challenge Владимир Путин to single combat."
"Stakes are Україна," he added.
"Владимир Путин" is Russian for Vladimir Putin, while "Україна" translates to Ukraine.
He followed this on with another tweet reading "Вы согласны на этот бой?" - translating to "do you agree to this fight?"
He tagged @KremlinRussia_E - the Kremlin's official Instagram account - in the second tweet.
Wanting to nuke mars
Musk sent the internet into a frenzy in August 2019 with two simple words: "Nuke Mars."
He later posted a picture of t-shirts with the slogan "Nuke Mars" emblazoned across the front, claiming that they would be coming "soon".
The tech big dog later elaborated on this plan, claiming that it would involve "a continuous stream of very low fallout nuclear fusion explosions above the atmosphere to create artificial suns".
"Much like our sun, this would not cause Mars to become radioactive," he said.
However he added that it was still "tbd" (to be decided) whether the giant mirrors or the artificial suns are the best approach.
One of his theories is that detonating nuclear bombs over Mars's poles would vaporise a large portion of the planet's ice caps.
This would liberate enough water vapour and carbon dioxide - both potent greenhouse gases - to warm up the planet substantially, potentially making it habitable.
However, the theory has been largely discredited by scientists.
Mocking pronouns
The Tesla boss annoyed a lot of people in July 2020 when he mocked pronouns for absolutely no reason.
"Pronouns suck," he tweeted, before embarrassingly trying to justify what he had said.
When he was accused of attacking the trans community, Musk claimed he was pro-trans but anti-pronouns, which didn't really clear a lot up.
Infuriating even more people, he wrote: "I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare."
In June this year, his transgender daughter filed a request with the Los Angeles County Superior Court to change her name to reflect her new gender identity.
The 18-year-old expressed a desire to legally become Vivan Jenna Wilson - adopting her mother's surname - who was Musk's first wife and mum to seven of his kids.
The teen stated: "I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form."
Spreading Covid-19 conspiracies
It will probably come as no surprise that Musk started engaging in Covid-19 conspiracy theories.
The tin-foil hat wearer began questioning testing and claimed he managed to get different results from four tests on the same day under the same conditions.
In November 2020, he tweeted: "Something extremely bogus is going on. Was tested for covid four times today. Two tests came back negative, two came back positive. Same machine, same test, same nurse. Rapid antigen test from BD."
Musk was widely criticised for the controversial tweet, but he continued to spread misinformation about the disease.
He claimed the "coronavirus panic is dumb" and that the pandemic would be "comparable to other forms of influenza", before clarifying he meant other forms of "the cold".
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