The Spectator, dopo una investigazione, ha concluso che Adrian Drittman, considerato da molti, inclusi giornalisti di testate mainstream, un alt di Elon Musk, usato per navigare in anonimia su social come X e 4chan, non è altri che un superfan di Elon Musk che ha imparato a emularlo molto bene.

Newsweek, the New Republic and Rolling Stone are just some of the news outlets that spilled ink in recent days wondering if Dittmann was an elaborate Musk hoax. Major social media influencers such as Pekka Kallioniemi posted threads on X examining if Dittmann was Musk that garnered millions of views. On Friday, the Verge even ran a piece headlined, “New evidence suggests Elon Musk is cosplaying his superfan Adrian Dittmann,” before softening the headline after an X employee told the outlet that the “evidence” was likely doctored.

Tra l’altro non è nemmeno un perfetto sconosciuto: egli stesso è un imprenditore che gode di una certa notorietà e a sua volta figlio di imprenditori fan del CEO di Tesla e SpaceX.

The real-life Dittmann is the son of a German software entrepreneur who has launched several businesses in Fiji, including a forestry venture, a bottled water company and a marina and yachting facility. One of those companies entered the Musk Foundation’s $100 million Xprize Carbon Removal contest the same month the Dittmann X account was created, in July 2021.

X’s Adrian Dittmann said he participated in the Musk Foundation carbon removal contest during an April 2023 Space, noting how Musk had “even spent, I think, $100 million US on a project that is supposed to reduce carbon emissions… We even, I even, took part in it.”

In July 2023, Musk and X’s Dittmann spoke to each other on an X Space, and X’s Dittmann explained his unique upbringing and accent: “I grew up in Gibraltar, lived in Morocco for a few years,” he said. He also said, “I can tell you I’m in Oceania,” when asked where he lived, but didn’t want to offer more specifics. Last night, on another X Space, he claimed he is in his twenties.

The Fiji-based German Dittmann fits this unique biography — his father lived for a period of time in Gibraltar, where his company has an office, according to a 2000 UK business filing for the software company that lists his country of residence as Gibraltar.

The family relocated to Fiji at some point after 2012, when a company founded by Dittmann’s father, Totoka Islands, scouted Fiji as a place “to invest in a forestry and farming development in the Tropics,” according to local news reports.

“Originally from Germany, Mr. Dittmann has invested more than FJD 50 million in developing commercial agroforestry operations in remote areas of Fiji,” the Fijian government announced. The family recently opened a solar-powered maritime lifestyle service warehouse for superyachts.