Susan Walsh/AP
Twitter's new billionaire owner Elon Musk shared a meme to the social media site Monday morning that contained a photo of a Nazi soldier.
"How times have changed," the billionaire wrote in his tweet.
The photo was photoshopped to include a small notification icon above a cage of messenger pigeons on the soldier's back. Its caption read: "3 unread messages."
"Back when birds were real," Musk later wrote in a follow-up tweet, before adding additional commentary with a head-exploding emoji.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 7, 2022
The photo that Musk shared was of a German soldier and his pigeons captured in May 1940 in France, according to Getty Images.
During World War II, pigeons were used by both Axis powers and the Allies to distribute messages.
Musk's meme comes just days after he finally took over the social media giant and began making sweeping changes, gutting content moderation teams, announcing verification badges can be purchased with an $8 subscription fee, and laying off thousands of Twitter employees.
Musk — a self-described champion of "free speech" — also declared Twitter's mission was to become the "most accurate source of information."
But his actions have contradicted his stated goals: he shared a widely-debunked conspiracy theory about the attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband days after purchasing the site.
Musk also said that "comedy is now legal" after buying the social media platform, but announced this week that parody accounts must now be clearly labeled or users will be permanently suspended. Twitter has begun suspending verified users who impersonated Musk to make fun of him.
