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Elon Musk reportedly acknowledged in a 2024 deposition that he used the X/Twitter account @ErmnMusk, which had posted as a young child. He described it as a “test account.” That later account of his testimony makes the connection much stronger than the circumstantial clues reported in April 2023. It does not, however, establish that he explicitly admitted to impersonating his son or explain why the account used a childlike persona.
The account behind the 2023 story
The account was identified as “Elon Test,” @ErmnMusk. It was reportedly created in November 2022, shortly after Musk completed his acquisition of Twitter, and used a profile image of a child holding a toy rocket. Vice’s April 2023 report connected that image to a profile visible in a screenshot Musk had shared.
People use “alt account” for an additional account controlled by the same person. “Burner account” usually suggests a pseudonymous or concealed account, while “test account” is the explanation Musk reportedly gave for this one. Those labels overlap, but they imply different things: the evidence supports Musk’s use of the account; it does not settle every question about its purpose.
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The case developed through several clues. None of the early clues alone proved who controlled the account, but together they made the identification plausible.
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- A screenshot showed a second profile. Musk posted an image intended to promote Twitter’s creator-subscription feature. The account-switching interface appeared to show his main account alongside another profile bearing a child’s picture. That placed the profile in Musk’s account environment, but did not by itself prove he personally controlled it; it could theoretically have belonged to a family member, staff member, or testing setup.
- Reporters matched the image to @ErmnMusk. The child’s image in the screenshot matched the profile picture used by “Elon Test.” Vice reported that a TinEye search found no other results for the image at the time. That is a contemporaneous search result, not proof that the picture was private or that only Musk could have accessed it.
- The account referred to a child’s birthday. A post said, “I will finally turn 3 on May 4th!” Musk’s son X Æ A-XII was born on May 4, 2020, so the message appeared to fit him. The date is suggestive, not conclusive on its own.
- Musk made an ambiguous remark. After the account drew attention, Musk reportedly replied, “You’d never guess it’s me!” to a tweet about the apparent alt account. He also wrote “or maybe just X” in a separate exchange. These remarks could be read as playful or suggestive, but neither was an explicit confirmation. Futurism’s contemporaneous coverage reported the reaction.
- Later deposition reporting changed the picture. In 2024, reporting said Musk acknowledged using @ErmnMusk during a deposition and characterized it as a test account. That is the strongest link in the public account of the story, though the available reporting does not establish that he personally authored every post.
Why readers thought it was written as Musk’s son
The account did more than display a child’s image. It posted in a first-person voice that appeared to belong to a very young child, including the claim about turning three. Other reported posts included “I wish I was old enough to go to nightclubs. They sound so fun” and “I 💜 librarians.” It also asked, “Do you like Japanese girls?”
One reported exchange involved a Pornhub-related post and a question, phrased with a childlike misspelling, about whether it was a real “peon” video. The adult and sexual references were part of what made the story controversial: they appeared alongside a persona presented as a toddler. The posts do not indicate that Musk’s child used the account, and they are not evidence of criminal conduct. The concern was the apparent use of a child’s identity or age as a frame for adult-oriented jokes.
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Given the profile, birthday, age references, and reported interactions, it is reasonable to say the account appeared to adopt a persona modeled on Musk’s young son. That is different from saying Musk explicitly testified that he was pretending to be his son. The later reports describe an acknowledgment of using the account and a test-account explanation—not a clear admission of that specific motive.
What Musk said it was for
According to reporting on the deposition, Musk called @ErmnMusk a “test account.” The available account of the testimony does not specify what he tested. It would be speculation to claim that he used it to test subscriptions, moderation, account switching, or any particular platform feature.
The explanation addresses the account’s stated function, not necessarily the reason for its profile or posts. Testing and playful or pseudonymous posting are not mutually exclusive, but the public reporting cited here does not show whether either—or both—describes what happened.
What is established, and what is not
| Claim | What the reporting supports |
|---|---|
| Musk used @ErmnMusk | Later deposition reporting says he acknowledged using it. |
| The profile appeared in Musk’s account environment | Supported by reporting on the screenshot he shared. |
| The account adopted a persona modeled on X Æ A-XII | A strong inference from its child image, age claims, and May 4 birthday reference—not a separately confirmed motive. |
| Musk intended to deceive the public | Not established by the cited reporting. |
| Musk personally wrote every post | Not established by the reported acknowledgment that he used the account. |
| The account’s present status | Not reliably verified by the sources cited here. Reports that it was deleted do not establish whether it was deactivated, suspended, renamed, or simply unavailable in public search. |
Why the distinction matters
On social platforms, identifying an account and proving its purpose are separate tasks. A screenshot, matching image, and biographical clues can point toward an owner; a later acknowledgment can substantially strengthen that link. Neither automatically answers who composed each post or what they intended. In this case, the deposition reporting updates the original 2023 story: Musk’s use of the account is no longer just an inference from online clues, while the interpretation of its childlike persona remains an interpretation of its content.
The episode also illustrates why a platform owner’s private or secondary accounts attract scrutiny. An account used by an executive or owner can blur personal posting, platform testing, and public performance. Here, that ambiguity is intensified by posts that appeared to speak as a young child. The evidence supports describing the account as one Musk later reportedly acknowledged using, with a persona that strongly evoked his son; it does not justify treating every question about authorship or motive as settled.
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For the original reporting and details of the account’s posts, see Vice and Futurism. For the later deposition account, see Yahoo’s report.
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