Elon Musk deletes tweet which compared Canadian PM to Adolf Hitler

Elon Musk compared Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with Adolf Hitler in a tweet that appeared to support truckers protesting vaccine mandates  and which immediately triggered a storm on Twitter.

Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Inc, in late January tweeted support for the Canadian truckers, who have shut down roads and bridges, drawing international attention to their opposition to health policies pushed by Trudeau's government.

Responding to a tweet describing how Trudeau's government had ordered banks to help cut funding to the protesters, Musk posted a meme of a photo of Hitler, with "Stop comparing me to Justin Trudeau" written above his head and "I had a budget" below it.

The tweet came as Musk and Tesla on Thursday accused the US Securities and Exchange Commission of an "endless" investigation to punish Musk for criticism of the U.S. government.

Musk has 74 million followers on Twitter, making his one of its most prominent accounts. That is often seen as a marketing boon for electric car maker Tesla.

Musk is known for edgy humor and blunt assessments, but his comparison of Trudeau with the Nazi leader, who was responsible for the genocide of millions of Jews and starting World War Two, went too far for many Twitter users.