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Elon Musk says he will give $1 bn to Wikipedia if it changes its name

'Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money?' questioned Elon Musk

Elon Musk
Photo: Bloomberg
BS Web Team New Delhi
2 min read Last Updated : Oct 23 2023 | 6:19 PM IST
Elon Musk, the man behind SpaceX and Tesla, has proposed a $1 billion offer to Wikipedia in exchange for a name change.

"I will give them a billion dollars if they change their name to Dickipedia," Elon Musk posted on X (formerly Twitter). He added that this is "in the interests of accuracy."

He was also quick to reply to X users who suggested Wikipedia take the offer. 

"@Wikipedia, Do it! You can always change it back after you collect [the money]," said one user.. To this, Musk replied, "One year minimum. I mean, I'm not a fool lol."

Musk also asked why Wikipedia demands so much money from its readers. "Have you ever wondered why the Wikimedia Foundation wants so much money?"

He added, "It certainly isn't needed to operate Wikipedia. You can literally fit a copy of the entire text on your phone! So, what's the money for? Inquiring minds want to know.."

This comes months after an exchange was observed between Musk and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. In recent days, Jimmy Wales took a dig at Musk for allegedly censoring the people who were critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Edrogan, and not allowing free speech.

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It must also be noted that Musk is known for his antics on X, and in the recent past, Musk has made other peculiar remarks as well. For instance, Musk challenged Meta's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg for a cage match.

"Knock, knock … challenge accepted … open the door". "Thought you might want some tea, so I brought the bags," Musk said, tagging Mark Zuckerberg's X account.

However, Zuckerberg quickly dismissed Musk's claims after he replied to his comments on X's rival—Meta's Threads app. 

"I think we can all agree Elon isn't serious and it's time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won't confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead. If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me. Otherwise, time to move on. I'm going to focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously," the Facebook founder said.

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Topics :Elon MuskTwitterWikipediaBS Web Reports

First Published: Oct 23 2023 | 6:19 PM IST

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