Elon Musk has made a lot of enemies since he acquired Twitter for an estimated $44 billion.
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Even before he expressed interest in owning the company, Musk has been known to use the platform to be confrontational with rivals and trolls, and his latest duel with Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey is no exception.
Markey took to Twitter over the weekend to vent his frustration after claiming that a reporter at the Washington Post he made a parody account impersonating him after buying a blue check mark, even going so far as to write a long letter to Musk asking how this happened and how it can be prevented.
A @Washington Post The reporter was able to create a verified account by posing as me. I’m asking for answers from @Elon Musk that you are putting profit before people and your debt to stop misinformation. Twitter needs to explain how this happened and how to prevent it from happening again. pic.twitter.com/R4r7p6mduP
—Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 11, 2022
“His takeover of Twitter, swift and haphazard imposition of platform changes, removal of safeguards against misinformation, and layoffs of large numbers of Twitter employees have hastened Twitter’s descent into the Wild West. That is unacceptable,” Markey wrote. “Twitter and its leadership have a responsibility to the public to ensure that the platform does not become a breeding ground for manipulation and deception.”
Musk, who doesn’t take criticism well, was quick to respond to the senator, comparing his account to a “spoof” and mocking his profile photo.
And why does your pp have a mask!?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 13, 2022
Musk’s two-tweet response received more than 280,000 combined likes.
Markey was quick to jokingly respond, calling out several of Musk’s other companies and the current investigations surrounding them, telling the billionaire to “fix” them first before starting the Twitter feuds.
One of his companies is under an FTC consent decree. The NHTSA auto safety watchdog is investigating another for killing people. And you spend your time looking for fights online. Repair your companies. Or Congress will. https://t.co/lE178gPRoM
—Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 13, 2022
The billionaire is also known to have fallen out with Senator Elizabeth Warren via Twitter, as the senator has been adamant about higher taxes for Musk and other billionaires, something Musk disagrees with.
“You remind me of when I was a kid and my friend’s angry mom would randomly yell at everyone for no reason,” he told the platform last December.
As of Monday afternoon, Musk’s net worth was estimated at $198.8 billion.