It looks like Elon Musk has found himself a perfect, go-to scapegoat: Twitter bots.
On Monday, Musk decided to tweet a poll asking users of the platform their opinion on his « Ukraine-Russia peace » plan. The world’s richest man appears to believe that the solution to Russia’s war in Ukraine involves the invaded country pretty much giving in to all of the imperialist country’s demands.
As one can guess, the poll did not go in Musk’s favor. As of publishing time, more than 63% of the around 1.2 million Twitter accounts who took part in the poll voted « no » to the « peace plan. »
For one, Musk thinks Ukraine should officially give up Crimea to Russia and assure water supply to the peninsula. Another idea from Musk is to « redo the elections of annexed regions under UN supervision » and that either country accepts the results. Russia recently annexed occupied parts of Ukraine after holding a vote among the areas’ residents. The legitimacy of the process and its results was questionable to say the least.
Musk’s final proposal is that Ukraine « remains neutral, » which seems like quite the ask after Russia has waged war within the Ukrainian people’s homeland for nearly 8 months.
When one Twitter user suggested that bots were rigging the poll results against Musk, he agreed with the claim.
« Indeed. Biggest bot attack I’ve ever seen, » Musk replied.
It seems Musk has found the perfect excuse in Twitter bots. The fake account issue on Twitter was once the reason why the Tesla CEO wanted to acquire the social media platform. But, Musk quickly did an about-face and decided the bot problem was the reason he wanted to back out of the deal. The bot issue is the defense he’s using in his legal battle with Twitter.
Now, when a poll on Twitter doesn’t go his way, apparently the bots are to blame there, too.
It’s very easy to explain why Musk’s opinion on Ukraine and Russia isn’t popular — and it’s not Twitter bots. Between soldier casualties, loss of territory, and Putin instituting a draft that’s highly unpopular in the country, experts say Russia appears to actually be losing the war. In addition, the vast majority of the world is behind Ukraine in this war. Despite these facts, Musk seems intent to double-down on his opinion.
« This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end – just a question of how many die before then, » said Musk of his « peace plan. »
What’s most baffling about Musk and his Twitter poll is that it seems to fly in the face of all the goodwill he’s amassed from the Ukrainian people this past year. Officials in Ukraine have greeted Musk with adulation over his support via his Starlink satellite system, which has helped keep communications flowing in the eastern European country even after Russia destroyed cell towers and broadband infrastructure.
« Starlink — here. Thanks, @elonmusk, » tweeted Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and digital head, in February.
« Talked to @elonmusk, » followed up Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a March tweet. « I’m grateful to him for supporting Ukraine with words and deeds. Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities. »
Now, officials in Ukraine are offering up different words to Musk.
President Zelenskyy has responded with a Twitter poll of his own, asking the question: « Which @elonmusk do you like more? »
The options are « one who supports Ukraine » and « one who supports Russia. »
Zelenskyy’s poll is rather cheeky, but a different Ukrainian official didn’t mince words.
« Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk, » Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk tweeted in a reply to Musk’s poll.
« The only outcome ist (sic) that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f…ing tesla crap, » Melnyk continued. « So good luck to you. @elonmusk »
Perhaps Elon Musk will chalk up Melnyk’s choice words to the Twitter bots, too.
