Elon Musk changed his name on Twitter as a joke and now he's stuck

Elon Musk has proven that his own Twitter rules also apply to him, after changing his account name and being unable to amend it.

The Twitter CEO changed his name to 'Mr. Tweet', before taking to the platform on Wednesday (25 January) to express that "Twitter won't let me change it back," with a laughing face emoji.

The name change comes after the tech mogul allegedly landed himself the new nickname – by mistake.

A San Francisco-based tech journalist claimed: "For anyone not in on the joke, the lawyer for the investors suing Elon accidentally called him 'Mr. Tweet' while grilling him this week."

He also apologised that there was no recording due to being prohibited, and claimed the "whole courtroom laughed" after the interaction.

The name apparently makes light of a recent "Freudian slip" from a lawyer in the courtroom on Monday (23 January), where Musk faced a trial brought by Tesla shareholders accusing him of committing securities fraud in a tweet.

The attorney, Nicholas Porritt, allegedly called Musk "Mr Tweet," admitting it was a "Freudian slip" – but Musk apparently joked it was "probably an accurate description".

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The shareholders accused Musk of manipulating Tesla's stock price with a 2018 tweet claiming he had enough backing to take Tesla private.

Musk defended the tweet in court, saying he "wanted to make sure shareholders would know what my intent was," according to Business Insider.

He also added that the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund would "unequivocally" help support his plan to make Tesla private – and admitted he never discussed a specific funding amount.

However, the deal did not happen.

Initially, the tweet made Tesla shares soar, but they soon fell weeks later when Musk said the plan was no longer going ahead.

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