The mysterious Adrian Dittmann, whom critics claimed was actually just an alt-account for Elon Musk, has been found in Fiji, according to a report.
For years, rumors have swirled that Dittmann’s X account, which gushes over the world’s richest man both in text posts and live chatrooms, was actually just Musk pumping himself up online.
But the real Dittmann is a German-born entrepreneur living in Fiji, according to an investigation by The Spectator.
However, despite the deep-dive — which cross-referenced years of social media activity and documents — Dittmann was not interviewed for the piece and his online footprint remains almost entirely confined to his social media posts.
The outlet cross-referenced years of content from the Dittmann account with biographical details and public records of the Dittmann living in Fiji, who is the son of a German software engineer and has launched a bottled water company, a forestry enterprise and a marina.
Speaking in X Space chatrooms, Dittmann had claimed to reside in “Oceania” after having grown up in Gibraltar, and Dittman’s father indeed spent time in Gibraltar, records show.
Dittmann had also claimed to have participated in a Musk Foundation carbon removal contest with a $100 million prize.
The Spectator found that one of Dittmann’s companies indeed entered in the $100 million Xprize Carbon Removal Contest in 2021, the same year Dittmann’s account was created on X (then Twitter.)
The Dittmann claimed to be in his 20s, and photos from social media and a video from a government event Dittmann attended show the real-world to be a slender, young blond man who bears a strong resemblance to Dittman’s AI-generated profile photo.
Photos and video also show real Dittman with a woman who bears a resemblance to AI artwork the Dittman X account created of his “significant other.”
The report came after months of speculation about whether the virtual Dittmann was secretly Elon Musk in disguise.
“Elon Musk is using a ‘burner account’ on X to shower himself with praise,” the Daily Mail announced claimed February.
In recent weeks, outlets including Rolling Stone and Newsweek jumped on the bandwagon, and the Verge even published a screenshot that it claimed showed Dittmann was Musk — although the outlet withdrew the report when the screenshot was found to be fake.
Conspiracy theorists cited apparent similarities in Musk and Dittmann’s writing styles and accents.
They claimed Musk used a voice modulator to pose as Dittmann in X Spaces chatrooms, even though Musk and Dittmann had a conversation at one such event — and even joked about the speculation that they were the same person.
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