Tesla CEO becomes Elon Tusk on Twitter

Ahead of a Tesla announcement on Thursday, tech billionaire Elon Musk changed his Twitter handle to Elon Tusk to the surprise of his 25 million followers on the platform.

The move came a day after the US Securities and Exchange Commission asked a US federal judge to hold Tesla CEO Elon Musk in contempt for violating a settlement deal reached last year.

The development on Monday came in response to Musk's tweet on February 19 that "Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019".

Hours later, the billionaire sent a follow-up tweet indicating that the company will actually deliver just 400,000 cars this year, CNN reported.

Although Musk corrected his mistake, regulators slammed the Tesla CEO because he "once again published inaccurate and material information about Tesla to his over 24 million Twitter followers".

The SEC on Monday noted that he did not ask for or receive company approval before publishing his tweet.

According to an October 2018 settlement with the SEC, Musk needs to receive pre-approval of any social media posts with information that's "material" to shareholders.

In a recent interview, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Musk was one of his favourite Twitter users.

"I like how @elonmusk uses Twitter. He's focused on solving existential problems and sharing his thinking openly. I respect that a lot and all the ups and downs that come with it," Dorsey said during the 90-minute interview with technology news website Recode this month.