Desperate people do desperate things. He's staring down the barrel of a $1B/year debt service and a collapsing reputation. That reputation is how he convinces investors to keep giving him money while timelines keep getting pushed years into the future. He's the guy who landed two rockets on live TV (oversimplified, but you know reality distortion fields). If he becomes the guy who fumbled Twitter after playing up how good he would be for it, it's over.
This is how "Do No Evil" Google started mining data and buying up the nascent AdTech industry. They weren't mustache-twirling villains, they were desperate to save the company with antsy investors breathing down their necks. They had to do something to justify themselves to investors post-.com bust, and all that data was right there.
This is a stretch in my opinion. The biggest issue in this guys story was advertiser money. Musk agrees, hence why he's diversifying income by charging for the tick.
Weird that advertisers cut their money immediately.
