‘What does a tosh look like?’: Musk responds to minister’s Twitter plea

The battle to curb fake news and fake accounts has swerved into a linguistic debate over the meaning of tosh.

"What does a tosh look like?" Elon Musk tweeted on Thursday in reply to a British government minister who appealed to him to intervene after a false claim that he had resigned.

An email masquerading as an official Northern Ireland Office account was sent to newspapers on Wednesday night asserting that Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, had resigned.

"I have had the honour of serving as secretary of state for Northern Ireland; however, due to personal reasons I am stepping down from my role," it read.

Earlier on Wednesday Heaton-Harris delayed calling an election in Northern Ireland, a U-turn from previous vows to call a poll, which has dented his credibility.

The Northern Ireland Office issued a swift statement saying the resignation claim was false. Heaton-Harris followed up with his own rebuttal.

Musk, who bought Twitter last month, replied with his query about what a tosh was. It gained 2,000 likes in two hours.