Musk responds to UK 'buy' joke with 'How much?' on social media

Billionaire Elon Musk drew attention online after responding to a social media post joking about "buying" the United Kingdom to restore what the post described as the British tradition of free speech. The exchange began when satire site The Babylon Bee suggested Musk wanted to purchase the UK in order to "reinstate" the free expression it claimed Britons once enjoyed. Musk replied to the post with the short question "How much?," the same wording he used in 2017 when a user suggested he buy Twitter. Musk became a major Twitter shareholder in April 2022, disclosing a 9.2 percent stake, before launching a $43 billion bid to acquire the platform later that year. He completed the takeover in October 2022 and subsequently rebranded the company as X. No official move or agreement to purchase the United Kingdom has been announced.