By now, save for only the least informed gearheads, almost everyone has heard Elon Musk has been successful, at least to this point, in his quest to buy Twitter. This development has caused no shortage of natterings in all corners of the internet, with tech blogs suddenly discovering the unpredictable and sometime unfathomable morass that is Musk’s social media presence. Auto journalists have been dealing with such issues for years.
One surprising result of the Twitter buyout? Henrik Fisker, boss of an EV company which ostensibly competes with Tesla, has packed up camp and disappeared.
Apparently, Fisker is taking umbrage to the fact his communications could be actively managed or controlled by a competitor. After posting one final tweet in which he told followers to look for him on Instagram for future content, the @henrikfisker account vanished and was replaced by a ‘this account doesn’t exist’ message. In short order, a post showed up on Fisker’s IG profile with the following caption:
I believe 100% in free speech. But I do not want my free speech to be actively managed or controlled by a competitor. And I do not want a competitor to determine how my followers experience Fisker as we grow our company.
Very good, then. It can be argued he has a point, since the platform is now wholly under the eye of a major competitor. Some are suggesting it the situation would be like General Motors managing the email server used by Ford Motor Company, while others are dismissing it as a publicity stunt and took the man to task on topics ranging from the relevance of his cars to accusations of paranoia. Somehow, the phrase ‘toxic masculinity’ showed up in the comments, proving that feature of Instagram is no better than it is on YouTube or Facebook.
If anyone cares, Fisker had about 86,600 followers on Twitter when he departed the scene. Musk? A cool 84.6 million. It is worth noting the official account for the Fisker company itself is still live as of this writing. Other EV makers, such as Rivian and Lucid, still maintain active accounts on the platform.
Henrik Fisker and Elon Musk have been dueling for years, ever since the former launched his first electric car company in 2007 and beat Tesla to market with the Karma sedan. Of course, the Karma was a hybrid and the Model S an all-electric – and we only need look at history to learn which venture was the victor in that little tiff. Fisker left the company he founded in 2013 and the place went under soon after. His new company is busying itself readying the Ocean, an all-electric crossover vehicle with an available 80kWh battery pack, a reported 40,000 reservations to its name, and a starting price of $37,499.
[Image: Fisker]
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