Internet in splits after Elon Musk jokes he wants to buy Coca-Cola to 'put the cocaine back in'
Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday that he will next acquire Coca-Cola and "put the cocaine back" in it. The tweet caused a social media frenzy and Coca-Cola began trending on Twitter immediately. It has often been claimed that the beverage's original formula contained the intoxicant, back at a time when the now-prohibited drug was still legal.
Musk's tweet received over 1 million likes, 200K retweets, and 60K quote tweets in under two hours. The rather ambiguous statement comes after he paid $44 billion for a virtual takeover of Twitter. While the tweet appears to be a prank, social media users are skeptical, considering Musk has previously pondered on Twitter what the platform was worth, five years before actually proposing a purchase of the firm.
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Musk is not allowed to say anything negative about Twitter, according to his Twitter agreement. However, the contract does provide some leeway otherwise, and world's richest man is talking about a variety of topics, including what Twitter should be like.
Twitter, in his opinion, should promote free expression as authorized by law; it should also be ideologically neutral, meaning it should be equally disturbing to both the extreme right and the far left. Musk also wants end-to-end encryption in Twitter DMs, similar to Signal, so that no one can spy or steal personal chats.
The tweet generated a range of jestful reactions from Netizens. One user posted a fake Musk tweet that showed him promising to buy Nigeria and fix its economy, and said, "He already promised." Along similar veins, another user posted a fake tweet that had Musk claim he will buy Australia next, and captioned it, "Good luck outbidding China, mate."
One user shared a picture of an old Coca-Cola bottle and said, "This is the first publicly sold bottle of Coca-Cola in 1894 which contained 3.5 grams of cocaine. Bring it back." Another wondered, "New packaging?", posting an image of a ziploc bag. Another user said, "I'm ready to drink," along with a funny GIF.
Good luck outbidding China, mate. pic.twitter.com/MnUpCZog30
— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) April 28, 2022
This is the first publicly sold bottle of Coca-Cola in 1894 which contained 3.5 grams of cocaine. Bring it back. pic.twitter.com/Q05JqrCrel
— Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) April 28, 2022
I'm ready to drink.https://t.co/hLkxpgsnqj pic.twitter.com/SF6TNKBAIi
— René 👨👩👦👦🇺🇦🤝🇷🇺👨👩👧👧 🤜 💨#Putin (@Rene_Frings) April 28, 2022