Elon Musk, Who Flooded Twitter with Cryptocurrency Tweets, Sees Twitter Reputation Drop 25% in 4 Months

As of June 4, Musk's followers surpassed 56 million. Photo by Elon Musk Twitter capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Soyoung] A survey has revealed that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who has continuously criticized cryptocurrencies on Twitter and demonstrated influence in the market, has seen a decline in his Twitter credibility.

On the 3rd (local time), the US online economic media Yahoo Finance cited analysis data from social media marketing company Awario, reporting that "Musk's reputation on Twitter hit a low point after he attacked Bitcoin."

Awario measures a reputation index by categorizing tweets expressing positive sentiment about a specific person or brand versus those expressing negative sentiment. Since October last year, Awario has been analyzing comments on Musk's tweets using an algorithm.

As recently as January, the ratio of positive to negative comments on Musk's tweets showed a similar pattern. However, last month, when he posted numerous tweets related to cryptocurrency, positive comments decreased to 14.9% while negative comments rose to 19.2%, resulting in a 25% drop in Musk's reputation index over four months.

In particular, when Musk announced on May 12 that Tesla would stop accepting Bitcoin payments for its electric vehicles, Bitcoin's price plunged 12%, and a flood of negative comments about Musk was reported. Negative comments surged by 25 percentage points.

Elon Musk, CEO of the American electric vehicle company Tesla, is taking off his helmet at the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory located in Gr?nheide near Berlin, Germany, on the 17th of last month (local time).
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Earlier this year, Musk publicly declared himself a Bitcoin supporter, boosting the market by allowing Bitcoin payments for Tesla cars and Tesla's $1.5 billion Bitcoin investment. However, he abruptly announced the suspension of payments citing the environmental harm caused by Bitcoin mining.

Not stopping there, Musk further accelerated market confusion by promoting another cryptocurrency, Dogecoin, while disparaging Bitcoin through a series of tweets.

Nevertheless, his influence in the cryptocurrency market remains strong. A single tweet from Musk directly impacts the market, and his Twitter account followers increased by over 3 million last month, reaching 56 million. He is known to have the largest number of followers among businesspeople.

Meanwhile, recent speculation about Musk possibly reallowing Bitcoin payments for Tesla electric vehicles has raised expectations for a rise in Bitcoin prices.

On the 2nd (local time), the UK media Birmingham Mail, citing sources, reported that "Musk recently met with Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO, and other cryptocurrency experts, and after exchanging opinions, decided to move toward reallowing Bitcoin payments."

It is reported that Dorsey and other cryptocurrency experts persuaded Musk that Bitcoin mining could act as a catalyst for the development of new renewable energy industries. A source from Birmingham Mail explained, "There is a 100% chance that Musk will reallow Bitcoin payments for Tesla cars. Musk is currently considering the timing of the announcement."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.