Social-media rumors about Elon Musk’s travel plans are becoming a safety issue, according to the Tesla CEO. Musk addressed the situation in response to a tweet from Sawyer Merritt, a self-identified Tesla investor who had apologized for sharing a post claiming the billionaire planned to travel to Berlin, Germany, this week. Merritt — in a Twitter thread explaining his decision to delete the post — wrote that there were “accounts literally dedicated to tracking Elon’s every move,” a situation Musk acknowledged in his reply. “Yeah, unfortunately this is becoming a security issue,” Musk wrote on Twitter. Musk confirmed that he plans to visit Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin in the coming days. Tesla is seeking government clearance to begin mass production of its Model Y vehicles at the facility despite ongoing resistance from local environmental groups. Earlier this month, local government officials gave Tesla permission to build 2,000 test vehicles at the German factory, Bloomberg reported. But Musk dismissed a report from the Web site Drive Tesla CA, which initially claimed his trip would begin Jan. 16. The report also said Musk planned to travel through Germany in Model Y cars made at the plant. “I obv can’t comment on every rumor, but this isn’t true. Am headed to Berlin mid Feb, not this week,” Musk wrote in response. Musk is known for frequently breaking news and interacting with followers on Twitter. As of Tuesday, his account had approximately 70.6 million followers.
