An ironic flash mob on X: users are massively sending "donations" to Elon Musk
An unusual ironic flash mob has unfolded on social network X. Users, noticing a sharp decline in the wealth of the richest man on the planet, began massively sending him symbolic money transfers through the XMoney payment service. The joke quickly went viral, turning into a spontaneous "support" campaign for the billionaire, who lost his status as the first dollar trillionaire in history in just two weeks.
A blogger under the nickname Corey published a screenshot of a $25 transaction, accompanied by a concise caption: "Buy coffee on me." "Call me an idiot, but I just sent $25 directly to Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, via XMoney for no reason — just because I can," he wrote.
Elon Musk himself did not stay on the sidelines and responded to the transfer with a short reply: "Thanks." This reaction only fueled the fire — other users stated they were ready to follow suit if the billionaire also responded to their posts. The initiative instantly turned into a mass flash mob within the new payment service.
Why Musk lost the trillionaire title
The reason for the wave of ironic "donations" was the sudden drop in the businessman's income. Just two weeks after reaching trillionaire status amid rumors of an SpaceX IPO, his fortune shrank from a peak of $1.4 trillion to the current $943 billion. The decline occurred due to a massive stock market correction, which hit his two key assets hard — Tesla shares and the value of his stake in SpaceX. The global sell-off in the technology sector and the artificial intelligence industry stripped the businessman of his symbolic title.
Analyst's opinion: Such ironic campaigns are a clear indicator of how the modern attention economy works. For Musk, losing $450 billion is certainly a serious blow to his capitalization, but not to his real influence. He still confidently holds the top spot in the ranking of the world's richest people, significantly ahead of Jeff Bezos and Larry Page. The transfer flash mob is more of a fun way to test the new X payment service than a real attempt to "support" the billionaire.