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Frequently asked questions

Q1: Can I write a message to Elon Musk here? (No.)

A1: No. The "Talk:Elon Musk" page is not for writing messages to Musk. It is only for discussing changes to the Wikipedia article about him. Writing a message to Musk here is pointless and disruptive, and such messages will be removed as an improper use of the page.

Q2: Can you update the article to call Musk a "business magnet"? (No.)

A2: No. Musk once suggested in an interview that his Wikipedia article be changed to describe him as a "business magnet" rather than a magnate. The tone of that interview was not very serious; he also claimed to be an alien.^[1] Wikipedia doesn't have to do what Musk says, and this request has been made and declined dozens of times already. New requests may be removed without a response so that other discussions are not disrupted.

Q3: Should Musk be identified as South African in the opening sentence?

A3: Musk is a US citizen (since 2002) born and raised in South Africa, and also acquired Canadian citizenship via his mother. Including these nationalities in the opening sentence in a balanced way would be complex, and the consensus is that they should instead be explained later in the lead.

Q4: Can you change "Tesla CEO" to "Tesla Technoking"?

A4: No, because he is still CEO according to company records and that is a common corporate title that readers will understand, unlike "Technoking". The goal of the article is to inform people, which would be hindered by raising a confusing technicality.

Q5: Should the mention of Errol Musk having an interest in an emerald mine be removed in view of Elon's denials?

A5: While Elon today vehemently disputes any history with an emerald mine, he formerly accepted and even confirmed it. Specifically, a 2014 report originally printed in the San Jose Mercury News (and cited in the article) stated that Errol Musk had "a stake in" a mine. Elon affirmed his father's mine involvement in an interview with Jim Clash, a career interviewer of public figures, that was published by Forbes and withdrawn without explanation a few months later. Elon biographer Ashlee Vance likewise confirmed Errol's mining interest, with Elon's objections but not denials, in a 2020 interview report with Elon. Errol has stated that he received hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of emeralds from his dealings.

Q6: Should "Bachelor of Arts in Physics" be "Bachelor of Science" instead?

A6: No. Although it may seem counterintuitive, "Bachelor of Arts in Physics" is the degree that the University of Pennsylvania (among other schools) awards.

Q7: Should the article acknowledge doubts about Musk's academic record?

A7: Wikipedia policy on biographies of living persons requires that negative information about a person must be attributed to reliable published sources, and excludes both self-published sources (e.g. Twitter threads) and court trial records. The article states that sources disagree about when Musk obtained bachelor degrees, and that he did not attend Stanford for any significant amount of time. Any doubts beyond this require appropriate sources.

Q8: Why doesn't this article describe Musk as an engineer?

A8: Musk is chief engineer of SpaceX, a title that applies within the company and that the press regularly mentions. He is not a professional engineer, a distinction within engineering that carries certain legal privileges in the United States, nor has he completed an engineering training program, nor has he ever been hired as an engineer. The article therefore does not include any of these claims. It does note that, from time to time, Musk has made initial product proposals at his companies that his trained engineers then research and develop. He does hold IEEE Honorary Membership.

Q9: Why doesn't the article identify Musk as co-founder of PayPal?

A9: Because that could mislead readers that Musk was involved in the creation of the PayPal service and brand, when he was not. Instead, as the article states, he co-founded a company (X.com Corporation) that acquired the company that had developed PayPal (Confinity Inc.) and then renamed itself as PayPal, Inc.

Q10: Why does this page include criticism of Musk's actions and stances?

A10: Musk is criticized/praised a lot in many reliable sources, and as such we need to talk about these criticisms and praise. To quote from Wikipedia's policy on a neutral point of view, articles must represent "fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without editorial bias, all the significant views that have been published by reliable sources on a topic."

Q11: Why is this a "good article" when some people consider Musk a bad person?

A11: "Good article" on Wikipedia refers to the way the article is written, not what kind of person Musk is. Good articles have been found to satisfy Wikipedia editorial standards for accuracy, verifiability and balanced presentation.

Q12: Why doesn't this page call Musk African American?

A12: African Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. Reliable sources do not use this term to describe Musk.

References

^ "Joe Rogan Experience #1169 - Elon Musk". The Joe Rogan Experience. September 6, 2018. Event occurs at 9:53. Retrieved October 2, 2020 – via YouTube.

Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments, look in the archives, and review the FAQ before commenting.

Elon Musk is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination was archived. For older candidates, please check the archive.

Elon Musk has been listed as one of the Social sciences and society good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
June 4, 2021	Good article nominee	Listed
July 24, 2021	Peer review	Not reviewed
August 23, 2022	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
November 1, 2022	Good article reassessment	Kept
A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on June 15, 2021. The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Elon Musk* lost $16.3 billion in a single day, the largest in the history of the* Bloomberg Billionaires Index?
Current status: Former featured article candidate, current good article

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Reference ideas for Elon Musk

The following references may be useful when improving this article in the future:

Breland, Ali (2024-08-20). "The Far Right Is Becoming Obsessed With Race and IQ". The Atlantic.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

Elon Musk in popular culture was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 14 May 2022 with a consensus to merge. Its contents were merged into Elon Musk. The original page is now a redirect to this page. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected article, please see its history; for its talk page, see here.

This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations:

Isobel Asher Hamilton (December 23, 2019). "Elon Musk fact-checked his own Wikipedia page and requested edits including the fact he does 'zero investing'". Business Insider. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
Don Reisinger (December 23, 2019). "Elon Musk Took Issue With His Wikipedia Page, So He Asked the Community to Fix It. They Did". Inc. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
Sissi Cao (December 23, 2019). "Elon Musk Says His Wikipedia Page Is 'Insanely' Inaccurate". Observer. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
"Wikipedia locks Elon Musk's page after he 'begs' Twitter users to 'trash him' on site". The Tribune (Chandigarh). August 17, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
Sanya Jain (August 17, 2020). "Elon Musk Is Begging - Yes, Begging - To Be Trashed On Wikipedia. True Story". NDTV. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
Stephen Harrison (May 3, 2022). "The Controversy Brewing on Elon Musk's Wikipedia Page". Slate. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
Dave Lee (October 26, 2023). "Now Elon Musk is attacking Wikipedia". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
CT Jones (October 24, 2023). "Elon Musk Offers to Also Ruin Wikipedia". Rolling Stone. Retrieved November 5, 2023.

Text and/or other creative content from this version of Elon Musk's submarine was copied or moved into Elon Musk with this edit. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists.

Section sizes

Section size for Elon Musk (46 sections)
Section name	Byte count	Section total
(Top)	7,854	7,854
Early life and education	29	25,292
Childhood and family	13,797	13,797
Education	11,466	11,466
Business career	20	123,452
Zip2	4,415	4,415
X.com and PayPal	5,463	5,463
SpaceX	11,726	23,319
Starlink	11,593	11,593
Tesla	18,745	36,559
SEC and shareholder lawsuits regarding tweets	10,525	10,525
SolarCity and Tesla Energy	7,289	7,289
Neuralink	9,032	9,032
The Boring Company	5,160	5,160
Twitter / X	30,011	30,011
Leadership style	9,473	9,473
Other activities	21	47,592
Musk Foundation	8,457	8,457
Hyperloop	8,584	8,584
OpenAI and xAI	5,873	5,873
Tham Luang cave rescue and defamation case	9,978	9,978
2018 cannabis incident	2,138	2,138
Music	2,996	2,996
Private jet	6,555	6,555
Company towns	2,990	2,990
Wealth	672	672
Personal actions, views, and social media usage	7,461	132,322
Finance	7,714	7,714
Technology	5,845	5,845
Existential threats	18,777	18,777
Politics	31,153	65,053
Conservative PAC activities	9,616	9,616
International politics	23,163	23,163
Government advisory roles	1,121	1,121
Accusations of antisemitism	12,900	12,900
COVID-19	14,572	14,572
Personal life	7,160	51,692
Relationships and children	22,888	22,888
Legal matters after 2020	21,644	21,644
Public perception	20,232	20,232
Notes and references	25	80
Notes	26	26
Citations	29	29
Works cited	1,501	1,501
Further reading	1,608	1,608
External links	5,810	5,810
Total	418,107	418,107

This article has been viewed enough times to make it onto the all-time Top 100 list. It has had 108 million views since December 2007.

This article has been viewed enough times in a single year to make it into the Top 50 Report annual list. This happened in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report 65 times. The weeks in which this happened:

Founder of Tesla

Elon Musk was one of the founders of Tesla, and that should be mentioned in the article, not that he was just an "early investor". Elon Musk has repeatedly claimed to have come up with the name "Tesla Motors", and the concept. He suggested it to Eberhard as they were both mildly involved(test driving and such) in another EV project called T-Zero. They did not own the rights to the name "Tesla Motors", since a guy called Brad Siewert had already registered it for his own company. While Elon officially didn't join the company before 6 months after Eberhard and Tarpenning had incorporated it, at the time the company was just a shell corp with no employees, no offices, no funding, no IP, no designs, no prototype, just this general idea of commercializing the T-Zero. First thing Elon Musk did after officially joining Tesla was to buy the rights to the name from Brad Siewert. Elon Musk was introduced to the T-Zero car by JB Straubel, who later became Tesla's first Chief Technology Officer. After experiencing the T-Zero, Musk was inspired and wanted to commercialize it, and the AC Propulsion guys(who made the T-Zero) connected him with Eberhard and Tarpenning, as they had the same idea. In Eberhard's lawsuit against Tesla, he wanted to be recognized as one of only two founders of the company(alongside Marc Tarpenning), a claim that was rejected by the judge. The judge struck down Eberhard's claim, and this decision was based on the broader context of Tesla's founding and the contributions of others, including Musk, JB Straubel, and Ian Wright, who were also considered integral to the company's early development. Obviously Eberhard has his own version of events, that are not compatible with Elon Musk's version, and the truth might be somewhere in the middle, but at the end of the day, this was dealt with in court, the court rejected Eberhard's claims, and concluded that Elon Musk was integral to the founding of Tesla... so, it seems only right that Wikipedia accept that there were(legally recognized) 5 founders of Tesla, including Elon Musk. I have not made any changes to the article, but just wanted to put this forward here, so others can evaluate whether to do so. FindTheBalance (talk) 21:49, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Musk was not a founder of Tesla. – Muboshgu (talk) 21:57, 5 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That's Eberhards narrative. It's easy to find plenty of articles that say the opposite, that Elon Musk was the founder of Tesla.

Here is Elon's perspective:

https://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-debunks-tesla-history-fake-news/

Elon Musk came up with the name:

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/why-elon-musk-named-his-electric-car-tesla/

Elon Musk was one of the founders("Musk is also among the founders of Tesla,"):

https://www.reuters.com/article/tesla-suit-idUKN2131161020090921/

And again, the court ruled with Elon Musk, dismissed Eberhards claim that he and Tarpenning were the only founders. That should be the final word in this.

https://www.cnet.com/culture/teslas-musk-gloats-over-eberhard-ruling/

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-cofounder-eberhard-drops-his-lawsuit-against-tesla-musk-2009-8 FindTheBalance (talk) 01:05, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. Thanks for sharing these good sources on Court ruling. Article needs to be updated to reflect this information. RogerYg (talk) 09:29, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The article body has relevant details, but its not reflected in the Lead yet.

A 2009 lawsuit settlement with Eberhard designated Musk as a Tesla co-founder, along with Tarpenning and two others.

https://www.cnet.com/news/tesla-motors-founders-now-there-are-five/

https://www.fastcompany.com/1367866/tesla-lawsuit-drama-ends-five-company-founders-emerge RogerYg (talk) 09:39, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Added in lead as a separate sentence. "He is considered a co-founder of Tesla motors" with references. Other editors may consider whether to include it along with early investor mention. Thanks. RogerYg (talk) 10:11, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Agree with User talk:Muboshgu. Existing article reflects norms followed on other, closely related Wikipedia articles.

Please do not make sweeping changes to a L5 BLP article without allowing for numerous participants to weigh in. 15:55, 7 December 2024 (UTC) QRep2020 (talk) 15:55, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The article @Muboshgu linked to is simply repeating the rather misleading narrative that Eberhard promoted, but that claim was, as I pointed out, dismissed by Judge John L. Grandsaert after evaluating all the relevant facts. Even though Eberhard and Tarpenning *registered* the company a few months before Elon officially joined, it's fair to say that the company begun as they all got together, that's when they got funding, that's when they got the rights to the name, that's when they started developing plans, designs and eventually prototypes.

It seems to me that the most correct thing to do is to make a distinction between Eberhard and Tarpenning "incorporating" Tesla, and Eberhard, Tarpenning, Musk, Straubel and Wright being the founders of Tesla. FindTheBalance (talk) 21:46, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hi FindTheBalance (talk), you seem very knowledgeable about this founder issue. Sadly knowledge alone is not valued on Wikipedia, we need good references / articles to back our knowledge.

I tried to briefly add that "Musk is one of the founders of Tesla" in the lead, with decent refernces, but it was taken down, as several editors seem to be against adding that to lead, even though its in the body.

I guess, we need more good references, and more TALK page support to get a fair lead on Tesla. Thanks RogerYg (talk) 19:09, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Also FindTheBalance (talk), probably you should start with Tesla wiki page first, and then try on this page. Thanks RogerYg (talk) 19:11, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I see that you are already working on Tesla page as well. Thanks. 20:35, 18 December 2024 (UTC) RogerYg (talk) 20:35, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Shouldn't they delete his video game usage?

It seems like unnecessary trivia. Starlighsky (talk) 12:45, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. Slatersteven (talk) 12:55, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to have gotten signficant coverage so its not trivia whatever your personal opinion of it may be. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:39, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I just want to point out that media coverage as reliable information could be a risk for Wikipedia, especially in law. Large media coverage of a court case is one thing. However, the underlying legal theory about the media event in another thing. Starlighsky (talk) 18:35, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I suspect that this isn't a response to me, but if it is please clarify the relevence. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 00:15, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I truly only meant it about Wikipedia and media coverage as a sort of weight for notability. It is from my experience in terms of editing court case articles and so on. It is just something where I disagree with the standards on Wikipedia. It truly was not in response to the post, but a rare moment where I could bring up my problem with the Wikipedia standards on law articles. Starlighsky (talk) 00:32, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oligarch

Isn't whether he's an oligarch nothing more than a point of view? 97.105.197.35 (talk) 22:40, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but if RS say it we repeat it. Slatersteven (talk) 13:39, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Addition to the Lead

I would like to propose adding the following to the lead:

"Due to his considerable influence over American politics, government, media, and industry, Musk has been described as an oligarch." (Or, American oligarch)

This subject is already mentioned in the body. Roman Abramovich is described as an oligarch in the lead as this perception is widespread. With Musk, it is heavily discussed and debated. Therefore, while shouldn't label Musk as an "oligarch", it should still be noted that he has been described in this manner due to his influence over government, politics, media, and industry.

For context, Musk has been described as an oligarch by prominent commentators, academics, and experts, including Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman, former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, and Former U.S. National Security Council Official in the Trump administration, Fiona Hill. Firecat93 (talk) 03:30, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Support: To start off the discussion, I (author), support this course of action Firecat93 (talk) 04:08, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose, IMO it is due in the body but not in the lead. Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:44, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose per every comment I have made in every thread about this. Slatersteven (talk) 15:52, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

New Cover Photograph

Here are some possible, high quality alternatives:

2022: USAFA Hosts Elon Musk (Image 1 of 17) (cropped).jpg

2022: Elon Musk Colorado 2022 (cropped2).jpg

2023 (Poorer Quality): Elon Musk in 2023 (cropped).jpg

Firecat93 (talk) 03:40, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing from this year? He doesn't look like he did in 2022 anymore Horse Eye's Back (talk) 04:27, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here are two from 2024 (the second can be cropped). Both are not very clear -

Elon Musk - March 28, 2024 (cropped).jpg

Ftninplwuaady5s-18796494.jpg Firecat93 (talk) 07:19, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That is a shame, I agree that neither of those is clear enough for us to use... Horse Eye's Back (talk) 15:20, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Bio inaccuracies

According to Elon musk's biographer, this page has a lot of factual inaccuracies such as him never having received a degree.

See https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/the-truth-about-musk-from-his-biographer Sangaof (talk) 07:12, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify, do they say he never received a degree? Slatersteven (talk) 10:40, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Crystal balling

Do we really need a list of posts he might get at some point in the future? Slatersteven (talk) 20:29, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

No, we don't. Not in an article as long as this already is. It's WP:UNDUE. – Muboshgu (talk) 20:43, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Proposal to Update Elon Musk’s Introduction to Include “Far-Right Political Influencer”

Elon Musk, known for his ventures in technology and business, has engaged in activities aligning with far-right ideologies, despite his denials. Notable instances include:

• Endorsement of Germany’s AfD Party: Musk publicly supported the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party classified by German intelligence as a suspected extremist organization. He stated that only the AfD can “save” Germany, aligning himself with their nationalist and anti-immigration stance.

• Platform Amplification of Far-Right Figures: Under Musk’s leadership, X (formerly Twitter) has reinstated accounts of individuals known for promoting bigotry, extremism, and misinformation, facilitating the spread of far-right ideologies.

• Dissemination of Far-Right Content: Musk has shared and engaged with content from far-right influencers, contributing to the normalization and dissemination of extremist viewpoints.

These actions demonstrate Musk’s alignment with far-right ideologies, contradicting his public denials.

Proposed Change:

Current Introduction: “…is a businessman known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. …”

Proposed Introduction: “…is a businessman and far-right political influencer known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. …”

Rationale:

Wikipedia strives to provide a comprehensive and neutral perspective on public figures. Musk’s endorsements of extremist political parties, amplification of far-right figures, and dissemination of far-right content are significant aspects of his public persona. Gnarledge (talk) 07:31, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Using the term “Far right” is simply an attempt to cast a slur against him. He was a democrat for most of his life and Musk has often been described as libertarian,^[1] but also describes himself as "politically moderate".^[2] JamieBrown2011 (talk) 07:53, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Note your wording: Musk was a Democrat and describes himself as politically moderate. However, recent actions speak louder than self-descriptions or past tendencies. His recent endorsements of far-right political parties and amplification of extremist content on X demonstrate a clear shift toward far-right ideologies. Even this Wikipedia page and others acknowledge his movement toward the right wing.

Furthermore, your immediate characterization of this proposal as an 'attempt to cast a slur' lacks substantiation. I have made a concerted effort to provide evidence supporting my claims, including Musk’s specific actions and their alignment with far-right ideologies. This is not polemic but a factual observation backed by reputable sources. Gnarledge (talk) 08:09, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

What he describes himself doesn't really matter per WP:PRIMARY.

However, to the original point – to begin with we need sources that use this wording before we can even start the discussion. — Czello ^(music) 08:31, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose. JacktheBrown (talk) 13:17, 21 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose and I'm sorry but this just looks like it was directly copied and pasted out of Chat GPT. Big Thumpus (talk) 04:06, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The most you could do is "politician", this applies even to the losers of WW2. Kenneth Kho (talk) 06:09, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Far right or just self-centered? I think his politics are like Trump's, whatever they need to be to get what he wants. No he is not far-right. 16:01, 21 December 2024 (UTC)

I love this radical leftist propaganda. 2601:18C:8183:D410:E04D:DD95:1048:461E (talk) 20:28, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Why only ‘American’

Musk is introduced as ‘American’ - not South African-Canadian-American. He still has all three citizenships, and that order tracks his life. Why not include all three? Harsimaja (talk) 03:10, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

See FAQ. Slatersteven (talk) 11:52, 22 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

^ Luce, Edward (May 24, 2023). "Beware Elon Musk's warped libertarianism". Financial Times. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
^ Peters, Jeremy W. (April 26, 2022). "The Elusive Politics of Elon Musk". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved June 13, 2022.

[1] "Joe Rogan Experience #1169 - Elon Musk". The Joe Rogan Experience. September 6, 2018. Event occurs at 9:53. Retrieved October 2, 2020 – via YouTube.

[2] Luce, Edward (May 24, 2023). "Beware Elon Musk's warped libertarianism". Financial Times. Archived from the original on July 24, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.

[muskpolitics-3] Peters, Jeremy W. (April 26, 2022). "The Elusive Politics of Elon Musk". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 11, 2022. Retrieved June 13, 2022.

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