Elon Musk leaks DMs with Asmongold and removes his X checkmark over PoE 2 dispute

The feud between billionaire Elon Musk and popular streamer Asmongold has reached levels of petty that the community didn't think possible.

For the past couple of weeks, gamers have questioned whether or not Musk's infamous level 97 Path of Exile 2 hardcore character was actually his or not. People have assumed Musk is paying someone or a group of players to boost his account and the tech giant himself only gets on the account to stream on X. Asmongold has joined this crowd, stating that if Musk can prove the level 97 hardcore character is actually his, he'll stream on X for a whole year.

However, Musk didn't take too kindly to Asmongold questioning his character's legitimacy. In fact, Musk has broken his own terms of service on X to call out the streamer for... using editors?

After Asmongold's video questioning Musk's PoE 2 character went up, the billionaire struck back with some apparent dirt on the streamer.

In a tweet, Musk stated that Asmongold "behaves like a maverick 'independent,' but in reality has to ask his boss for permission before he can do anything. He is not his own man." The owner of X followed up the tweet with a screenshot of DMs between himself and Asmongold. The DMs showcase Asmongold telling Musk that two editors run his YouTube account and get a cut of ad revenue in exchange for their work.

Apparently to Musk, this means Asmongold has bosses at his own YouTube channel. However, the practice of having editors cut up stream clips and upload them to YouTube for the channel owner is extremely common. Almost every big streamer and YouTuber has editors behind the scenes who handle social media, scheduling, and uploading videos.

While the DMs seem harmless to the outside eye, this action by Musk actually breaks X's terms of service. The TOS states that you are not allowed to share private DMs without the express consent of the person you are messaging. Musk was given a Community Note on X for this, but the note was later changed to explain Asmongold's editorial situation.

After the DMs were posted, Musk continued to bash Asmongold on X. He went on to say that Asmongold is a "caustic commentator and "not good at video games." However, Musk was once again given a Community Note that listed some of Asmongold's achievements in video games, specifically World of Warcraft.

The Community Note also went on to say that Musk faked an achievement in PoE 2. This further puts doubt on whether Musk played his level 97 hardcore character himself.

For context, a hardcore character cannot die at any time; if the character does die, your entire run in PoE 2 ends. So for Musk to reach level 97, which takes hours and hours of grinding, and not die a single time in one of the hardest games in recent memory is one of the more difficult feats imaginable.

PoE 2 requires you to beat the game twice and progress in an incredibly challenging endgame to reach level 97 and it's not something that most gamers can accomplish with a hardcore character.

It appears Musk didn't take kindly to his own site correcting him, so in a truly petty act, the billionaire removed Asmongold's checkmark on X and unfollowed him on the platform. Asmongold was presumably paying for a premium X account, so Musk could be setting a dangerous precedent by removing the checkmark for no real cause.

A few hours later, though, and Asmongold's checkmark had returned to his account. Maybe Musk was just playing God for a brief spell, but it does seem like the checkmark was manually removed.

We'll have to see how this feud continues to play out in the future.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more gaming news.