A transatlantic Twitter feud is brewing between tech titan Elon Musk and Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham, centering around Musk’s perceived plummeting popularity in the United Kingdom.
The exchange, which began with a U.K. journalist’s observation about Musk’s low favorability ratings among Brits of all ideologies, quickly escalated into a personal back-and-forth between two of the most prominent figures on the tech scene.
The initial spark came from a tweet by Noah Carl, who noted that even two-thirds of Conservative voters in Britain hold an unfavorable opinion of Musk, rating him even lower than the current Prime Minister.
Paul Graham weighed in, expressing concern that Musk seems oblivious to the damage he may be inflicting on his personal brand. Graham, referencing conversations with everyday British citizens, suggested Musk is now seen as a “sinister rich bad guy in a Batman movie.”
Musk, characteristically, didn’t take the criticism lightly. “Don’t be a retard who believes bogus polls,” he said. Graham clarified that his observations were not based on polls but on personal conversations.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO who is now playing a crucial role in the incoming Trump administration retorted with a personal attack, questioning Graham’s proximity to average Brits, “Oh please. You live in an aristocratic country house in the English countryside… Mr. Paul Graham hasn’t run into an ordinary person in years.”
Musk went on to detail a lengthy essay, which I suspect he wrote with his company xAI’s native LLM Grok, continuing to taunt Graham, who has lived in English since 2016.
The UK Context: A Series of Controversial Tweets
This online spat isn’t taking place in a vacuum. Musk’s increasingly controversial comments on British politics have likely contributed to his declining popularity in the region. In the past year, Musk has been a vocal critic of the UK, engaging in several highly charged exchanges on X.
Musk has publicly criticized the UK government’s handling of child abuse scandals, calling for the arrest of Prime Minister Starmer. These comments, often shared through charged language and inflammatory rhetoric, have caused considerable outcry among many in the UK.
The world’s richest person has also characterized the UK as “going full Stalin” in response to changes in inheritance tax and his reinstatement of Tommy Robinson’s account on X and comments on UK building detainment camps in the Falkland Islands haven’t probably helped him earn favors with his British audience either, it seems.