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On April 4, 2023, it was reported that the homepage icon on Twitter had been changed to the Doge meme. The change was made by none other than Elon Musk, who had purchased Twitter last fall in a $44 billion deal. The Doge meme, which features the face of a Shiba Inu, is part of the logo of the Dogecoin blockchain and cryptocurrency, which was created as a joke in 2013 to mock other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Musk is a well-known superfan of Dogecoin and has been promoting the cryptocurrency on Twitter for quite some time. He even famously endorsed it during his appearance on "Saturday Night Live" last year, which helped catapult the currency into success until its historic crash in 2022, when the value of the currency tanked by approximately 75%.
Musk's latest move, changing Twitter's homepage icon to the Doge meme, caused the value of Dogecoin to rise more than 20%. This is significant, considering the ongoing $258 million racketeering lawsuit that Musk is facing, which alleges that he ran a pyramid scheme to promote Dogecoin. The plaintiffs in the case have accused Musk of engaging in racketeering by promoting the cryptocurrency and seeking an eye-popping $258 billion in damages.
However, Musk's legal team has filed a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing that his tweets in favor of Dogecoin were merely jokes and that there is nothing unlawful about tweeting words of support for a legitimate cryptocurrency that continues to hold a market cap of nearly $10 billion. According to Musk's lawyers, the plaintiffs in the case have not shown how Musk's statements in favor of Dogecoin defrauded anyone or how he hid any risks from investors.
It remains to be seen whether Musk's latest move on Twitter will have any further impact on the value of Dogecoin or on the outcome of the ongoing lawsuit against him.
