autoevolution
 

Musk's Chinese "Doppelganger" YiLong Ma Has Been Banned From the Local Social Media

Last year, an alleged Musk doppelganger video went viral on social media. The young Chinese was dubbed Yi Long Musk for his striking resemblance with Tesla’s CEO. He took pride in the name and changed it into YiLong Ma to better suit Chinese pronunciation. This did not help him much, as Chinese social media channels banned him from their platforms without an explanation.
Musk’s Chinese “doppelganger” Yilong Ma has been banned from local social media 6 photos
Photo: Anthony: BOT # 419,68 via Twitter
Musk’s Chinese “doppelganger” Yilong Ma has been banned from local social mediaYou can find a fake anything in China, including a fake Elon MuskYou can find a fake anything in China, including a fake Elon MuskBizarre Elon Musk Tweet Announces He Considers "Quitting His Jobs"Bizarre Elon Musk Tweet Announces He Considers "Quitting His Jobs"
Ma, or whatever his real name is, became famous last year thanks to his resemblance to Elon Musk, complete with his facial expressions. His videos on social media went viral and even attracted Musk’s attention. He even offered to meet with the guy. If he were real, of course. The internet is flush with fakes these days, and deepfakes are hard to identify, so there was always a doubt about his true face.

Deepfake or real, YiLong Ma was banned from several local social media channels, including Weibo (China’s equivalent of Twitter) and Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok). His entire collection of videos has been purged from the two platforms. A content restriction citing policy violations has been enforced on his page on Weibo. According to Business Insider, Ma has not received a reasonable explanation from Weibo or Douyin on why his accounts were suspended.

In the meantime, Ma has moved his business to TikTok for as long as the platform would allow him. This takes into account that TikTok and Douyin are basically a single platform owned by Bytedance. Ma has ported his video to TikTok, and this is his sole social media account for now. But he is already considering migrating to Twitter, according to one of his latest videos. Probably this is related to Musk’s offer to buy the social media company.

This is a free bird,” writes Ma in the post sharing the video. “I like him and I’m going to go with him right now. Because Elon Musk is my brother.”

We don’t know what prompted the Chinese social media platforms to ban “YiLong Ma,” considering his videos were innocent. Moreover, his videos did not bother the real Elon Musk very much. The chances of the two getting together are slim to none.

@mayilong0 This is a free bird. I like him and I'm going to go to him right now. Because Elon Musk is my brother#elonmusk #tesla #twitter ? dance(256762) - TimTaj
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Cristian Agatie
Cristian Agatie profile photo

After his childhood dream of becoming a "tractor operator" didn't pan out, Cristian turned to journalism, first in print and later moving to online media. His top interests are electric vehicles and new energy solutions.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories