Whether investors betting against his stock or journalists or analysts who ask difficult questions, Elon Musk fought back , often around the clock on Twitter.

In recent months, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has become a larger and more aggressive presence on social networks. But when Musk called a British diver involved in the Thai cave to rescue a pedophile in front of 22.2 million Twitter followers on Sunday, he could have gone a tweet too far.

The tweet, later deleted, has removed investors from Tesla and could expose the scholar rocket temperament to a libel lawsuit. In the tweets, Musk moved away from a vigorous defense of his companies in personal insult, without any foundation to safeguard him

To learn more: A Thai diver could file a complaint against Elon Musk for a 'pedo & # 39; tweet [19659008] To learn more: What we know about Elon Musk's $ 20 billion fortune

"This has nothing to do with Tesla's defense," explains Erik Gordon, a professor of law and business at the University of Michigan. "It goes beyond a line where he can not pretend," Well, my big sin is that I'm going too far in defense of the company.

In a television interview, British diver Vern Unsworth criticized Musk and SpaceX engineers for sending a small submarine to help divers save 12 Thai football players and their trainer of a flooded cave.The submarine was not used.Absworth called a "PR coup" and said that it was not

Musk responded with a tweet brandishing Unsworth a "pedo." In a second tweet, Musk said he bet the claim was true. CNN that he was considering a lawsuit.

A Tesla spokesperson would not comment on the tweets

For the first four months of the year, Musk was doing an average about 100 tweets a month From May, the tweets climbed to 400 while Musk was under pressure to increase production of the v low-cost electric model 3, which starts at $ 35,000

. He has almost half of President Donald Trump, who also attacks his detractors on Twitter.

Mark Spiegel, a hedge fund manager who has been betting on Tesla shares for years, said the tweets showed Musk fans. His true personality

The company, which has had only two profitable quarters, is deeply indebted and will struggle to meet Musk's profit forecast in the second half of this year, Spiegel said. around this base of rabid fans of Elon Musk. Once this fan base starts to see what kind of person they love, they will turn to you on a dime. "

Spiegel compared Musk to Trump, saying the two men were an "incredible personality." common flaws. "

Previous comparisons with Trump have angered Musk. This spring, critic Andrew Hawkins tweeted that Musk was turning into a "media trump figure who was screaming irrationally about false news."

Musk reacted by castigating the media for Trump comparisons, writing: "Why do you think that? he was elected first because no one believes you anymore. "

In his defense, Musk posted on Twitter that the leaders of the Thai rescue, in which all the boys and their coach had been extracted in all security, had asked him to build the mini submarine. 19659008] The title of Tesla fell to nearly 3% Monday at $ 310.10 while the general market was up slightly.

Robert Drechsel, who taught media law at the University of Wisconsin, advised the CEO to stop tweeting.

"You can not do yourself any favors at least by creating that kind of distraction, and at worst by raising questions about your credibility," he said. "I'm certain that they would like it to be a more cautious tweeter."

Big investors are in a difficult position with Tesla, just as they were with Uber and ousted CEO Travis Kalanick, Gordon said. Like Uber, Tesla and SpaceX were built on the larger-than-life personality of their founder. Tesla is worth more than $ 52 billion, largely on the promise of Musk's genius.

Until recently, the personality of Twitter and Musk worked well for Tesla. The company said in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it did not need to advertise because it was receiving so much attention from the media [19659015] but Musk's comments and clashes with analysts, journalists and others Investors are wary, Gordon said.

"It's very dangerous if you just shut things down," he says.

Contribution: Francois Duckett, Michelle Chapman and Charles Sheehan AP

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