Anonymous Takes Aim at Elon Musk for 'Trying to Centralize Crypto'
Updated: The video's affiliation with Anonymous can't be confirmed, check the bottom of the article for the latest information.
Anonymous, a decentralized international activist/hacktivist collective/movement known for its cyber-attacks against several governments and organizations—including the Church of Scientology—has now sent a cryptic message to billionaire Elon Musk in the form of a YouTube video. The group claims that the Tesla CEO has enjoyed a favorable reputation due to the "world's desire to live in a world of electric vehicles and space exploration."
However, Anonymous believes this reputation is underserved. "Recently your carefully created public image is being exposed and people are beginning to see you as a narcissistic rich dude who is desperate for attention," says the masked man in the YouTube video.
The video goes on to explain how Musk's quest to save humanity is rooted in a complex of superiority and not an actual concern for humanity. The group claims that Musk's employees have faced "intolerable conditions under his command" for years and that children work in his overseas lithium mines that are also very damaging to the environment.
In addition, states the group, Musk has been open to staging coups in order to "install dictators" in the countries where his products are being mined and has even prematurely crowned himself emperor of Mars.
Anonymous adds that the competition for electric vehicles and space exploration is growing and that Musk has only gained a cult following by trolling others on social media. The group goes on to attack Tesla, saying that the firm's income does not come from selling cars but rather from government subsidies.
It states that Musk did not even found Tesla but rather purchased the company from two people "much more intelligent" than he is: Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. Anonymous goes on to accuse Tesla of making money by holding Bitcoin and to state that the games that Musk played with the crypto markets "have destroyed lives".
The video is a scathing takedown of Musk, one he may have a hard time to recover from. If you want to watch the full expose, we have included the video below. We can't help but wonder: Will Musk respond?
An update from your friendly editor: It is actually unclear if Anonymous is really backing this up — it is kind of hard to pin stuff on a decentralized organization really — as the most popular Twitter account of Anonymous YourAnonNews denied ownership. On the other hand, another account with a high follower count claiming to have ties with Anonymous, YourAnonCentral said it indeed was legit.