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Internet in splits after Elon Musk jokes he wants to buy Coca-Cola to 'put the cocaine back in'

Musk had wondered what Twitter was worth back in 2017, five years before actually acquiring the platform

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.