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Does Twitter/X need an email service? Elon Musk thinks so.
In the wake of an online hoax about Gmail shutting down, a security engineer at X named Nate McGrady tweeted: “When we making XMail?” Elon Musk replied: “It’s coming.”
Musk didn't say anything else, leaving us skeptical that he’ll follow through, especially since the internet has plenty of email services. In addition, Twitter/X already has its hands full developing other features, like online payments and video calls, not to mention retaining advertisers.
Still, it’s possible Musk may be looking to lure users away from Google, which has a history of shutting down apps, despite their popularity. On Thursday, users began circulating an official-looking, but fake message from Google that said it planned on “sunsetting Gmail” on Aug. 1.
Despite the outlandish claim, many users fell for the hoax, citing the company’s history of sending products to the Google Graveyard. The viral misinformation eventually prompted Google to tweet “Gmail is here to stay.”
Hence, the reaction to the hoax may have inspired Musk to stir the pot. In the past, he's clashed with Google co-founder Larry Page over AI. And this week, Musk bashed Google’s Gemini AI chatbot after it sparked controversy for producing historically inaccurate AI-generated images.
“I’m glad that Google overplayed their hand with their AI image generation, as it made their insane racist, anti-civilizational programming clear to all,” Musk said in a tweet on Thursday.