Elon Musk Tweets in Chinese at China State Media Account That Scolded Him on Believing ‘Too Much’ in Freedom of Speech

Photo by Britta Pedersen-Pool/Getty Images

Elon Musk is continuing his efforts to engage in international foreign policy one tweet at a time, taking a swipe at a Chinese government-affiliated media account that had attempted to scold him for believing “too much” in free speech.

Taking a momentary break from the drama swirling around his ongoing legal wrangling with Twitter, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO sparked outrage on Monday with a Twitter poll about how to end the war in Ukraine that critics viewed as naïvely promulgating Russian propaganda, drawing an F-bomb from Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany and even a slap back from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself.

On Tuesday, Hu Xijin, a commentator with China’s Global Times, an outlet that is designated on Twitter as “China state-affiliated media,” tweeted a screenshot of Musk’s Ukraine poll.

“Elon Musk has released his personality too much, and he believes too much in the US and West’s ‘freedom of speech,'” the reporter scolded in his tweet. “He will be taught a lesson.”

Elon Musk has released his personality too much, and he believes too much in the US and West’s “freedom of speech.” He will be taught a lesson. pic.twitter.com/nv4VU7rFIv

— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) October 4, 2022

“手整体插在口袋里的人过分自信,” tweeted Musk in reply on Thursday, which means “Overconfident man with hands in pockets,” according to Google Translate.

手整体插在口袋里的人过分自信

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2022

Just to make sure no one mistakenly thought he was getting overly serious, later on Thursday Musk replied with a thumbs up and “rolling on the floor laughing” emoji to a follower who responded to him with a joke that “Man with hands in pocket feel cocky all day,” making this GenX reporter glad to see that my era of silly school playground jokes still endures.

👍🤣

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2022

Still, Musk’s diplomacy-by-tweets continues to grate nerves. The Kyiv Post, an English-language media outlet that has been covering the war in Ukraine, tweeted Thursday that the Elon Musk situation was “clearly getting out of hand,” with it seeming “like pride and vanity play a behemoth role in his attempt to pose as an expert on [Ukraine].”

“Just stop, Elon,” the account urged. “It’s ok to admit that you overdid smth. Just stop.”

The @elonmusk situation is clearly getting out of hand, and it seems like pride and vanity play a behemoth role in his attempt to pose as an expert on #Ukraine.

Just stop, Elon. It’s ok to admit that you overdid smth. Just stop.

— KyivPost (@KyivPost) October 6, 2022

“I’m a big fan of Ukraine, but not of WW3,” Musk insisted.

I’m a big fan of Ukraine, but not of WW3

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2022

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