Twitter post wasn’t serious about Elon Musk using $3 billion to give every American family $100,000

A viral social media post is claiming the $3 billion Elon Musk spent buying a 9% stake in Twitter should’ve been directly given to the American people instead.

The April 5 tweet was made following the announcement that the Tesla CEO would join Twitter’s board of directors after purchasing 73.5 million shares of the company’s stock.

"With the money Elon Musk spent to buy Twitter shares, he could have given every American family $100,000 and still had enough left over to cancel all student debt," tweeted Hunter Walk, the co-founder of a venture capital firm.

If Walk’s tweet sparked a sense of familiarity, it’s because it echoed a similar claim involving Michael Bloomberg.

During the 2020 presidential election, a claim was made that Bloomberg’s campaign spent $500 million on advertising. A social media user at the time said the money could’ve been used to give all 327 million people in the United States $1 million each.

PolitiFact found the Bloomberg critic’s math was flawed. If $500 million was actually divided among 327 million people, it would amount to about $1.53 per person.

Walk’s tweet also includes faulty math. Although he doesn’t say what is considered a family, there are at least 122 million households in America with about 2.6 people per household, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Dividing $3 billion by 122 million households would result in each unit getting $24.59, with nothing leftover to tackle student debt.

Featured Fact-check

Facebook posts

stated on March 21, 2024 in una publicación en Facebook

"El presidente Biden acaba de anunciar el nuevo programa 'Latinos sin deudas 2024' que ayudará a toda la comunidad hispana con problemas de deudas".

Even if Musk’s $3 billion was dedicated toward paying off college loans, it wouldn’t cover a quarter-percent of what’s owed. 

It's estimated that Americans owe around $1.74 trillion in student loans. 

Walk later admitted he wasn’t being serious with his claim and said in one reply that it was a "troll twete."

In a follow-up tweet on April 6, he joked about his post triggering a fact-check by Twitter’s Birdwatch feature.

"What did I learn? People on left don't do math and people on right are really willing to defend their rich icons," Walk said. "And crypto folks are generally vocal but sometimes funny."

A user on Twitter said the $3 billion Elon Musk used to buy shares of Twitter could’ve been redistributed to give $100,000 to each American family and eliminate student debt.

But $3 billion divided among all the families in America would be nowhere close to $100,000. It also wouldn’t even come close to covering the $1.74 trillion that Americans owe in student loans. 

We rate this Twitter post as Pants on Fire!