In January, with a nationwide ban on TikTok looming, a whole bunch of hundreds of individuals within the US started flocking to a different Chinese language social media app referred to as RedNote—solely to search out that Maye Musk, Elon Musk’s mom, had already established a comparatively giant viewers on the platform. Maye, who has turn out to be a celeb in her personal proper in China over the previous few years, had over 600,000 followers on RedNote when the flood of People arrived.
“I would like to search out the block button,” one American consumer commented underneath Maye’s newest video on the time, which has obtained over 10,000 likes. “I can’t imagine I’m witnessing American individuals confronting Musk’s mother to her face,” one other remark in Chinese language reads. Shortly afterward, Maye’s remark part on RedNote was closed for a number of weeks. New feedback didn’t begin exhibiting up once more till early February.
The incident represented a uncommon second when the parallel public pictures Maye Musk has created for herself collided. In China, the 76 year-old has constructed a largely apolitical status as a “silver influencer,” trend mannequin for native manufacturers, and guide writer who commonly garners constructive protection in Chinese language state media, The New York Occasions beforehand reported. Final week, she made one other journey to China, this time to town of Wuxi, the place she was invited to look at a drone present, promoted conventional crafts, and posed with a particular Tesla mannequin that is available in completely different colorways bought solely in Asia.
However within the US, Maye’s profession has more and more converged with Elon’s as her son gained unprecedented energy and affect over the US federal authorities. Since President Trump gained reelection, Maye has traveled on Air Pressure One, sat subsequent to Melania Trump at a Mar-a-Lago ceremonial dinner, and attended a luncheon with Ivanka Trump, whereas additionally commonly firing off posts on X about US politics, in response to a WIRED evaluate of her social media presence.
In some ways, Maye seems to be making an attempt to straddle the high-quality line between her political engagement within the US and her enterprise dealings in China and different overseas nations. That endeavor has turn out to be extra fraught over the past two months as Trump started radically reshaping US overseas coverage, together with imposing new tariffs on China. “There’s a heightened danger now for American enterprise individuals touring to China and that continues to extend, particularly as tensions within the commerce struggle will enhance,” says Holden Triplett, co-founder of Trenchcoat Advisors and a former senior FBI official posted in Beijing.
Maye Musk’s enterprise supervisor and Inventive Artists Company, her expertise consultant company in China, didn’t reply to requests for remark from WIRED.
Even earlier than she started touring commonly to China, Maye publicly supported Elon and Tesla’s enterprise endeavors within the nation. In 2015, she retweeted a publish by Elon during which he talked about assembly with Chinese language chief Xi Jinping. “Nice journey to China seeing President Xi … Pic w China staff in state backyard,” the tweet reads, which was later deleted from Elon’s profile.
