Elon Musk tweets support for Twitter boss amid reports Jack Dorsey could be deposed

‘He has a good heart,’ Tesla CEO says

(Reuters)

Elon Musk has tweeted his support for fellow tech billionaire Jack Dorsey amid rumours the Twitter CEO will soon be ousted.

Reports that the Twitter boss could be replaced first surfaced last week after a Republican mega-donor purchased a “sizeable stake” in the social media firm with the intention of forcing out Dorsey.

Paul Singer, who owns the hedge fund Elliott Management, is a prominent supporter of Donald Trump — who has accused Twitter of being “very discriminatory” of him despite being the platform’s most prominent user.

Musk, who is also a frequent Twitter user, tweeted: “Just want say that I support @Jack as Twitter CEO. He has a good heart.”

Last year, Dorsey named the SpaceX and Tesla CEO as his favourite tweeter during a live-tweeted interview.

“I like how @elonmusk uses Twitter,” he wrote. “He’s focussed on solving existential problems and sharing his thinking openly. I respect that a lot and all the ups and downs that come with it.”

Musk has been involved in various controversies as a result of his Twitter use, some of which have resulted in court cases for alleged defamation.

He has also been critical of Twitter for its apparent inability to effectively deal with impersonators and scam accounts. “The crypto scam level on Twitter is reaching new levels,” he tweeted last month. “This is not cool.”

During a recent Twitter company event, Musk was invited to give his thoughts over video link on how he thought the platform could be improved.

“I think it would be helpful to differentiate between real and you know, not just like a verified person, but is this a real person, or is this a bot net or a sort of troll army or something like that? Basically, how do you tell if the feedback is real or someone trying to manipulate the system? Or probably real or probably trying to manipulate the system,” Musk said.

“Some way to differentiate between, this is a real person and this is someone just trying to manipulate the system. I see people trying to sway public opinion, and sometimes it can be difficult to figure out what’s real public opinion and what’s not.”

Reports of Elliott Management’s investment emerged just days after Twitter announced new measures to tackle misinformation on the platform.

A spokesperson for Elliott Management had no comment on the reports and Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.