Elon Musk hinted on Thursday his political sentiment has shifted rightward over the past 14 years, by posting a meme showing a moderate liberal driven into the arms of conservatives.

The image depicts a stick figure labeled 'me' remaining stationary relative to another labeled 'conservative', as the figure at the 'liberal' end of the spectrum moves further and further to the left.

By the final diagram, labeled 2021, the 'me' figure is to the right of the center line, as the conservative chuckles and the liberal - now labeled 'woke progressive' - accuses the centrist of bigotry.

Musk shared the post without comment, but his political views have taken on new significance after his $44billion deal to buy Twitter and his declaration the platform should be 'politically neutral'.

Responding to his tweet, many angry liberals claimed conservatives had grown more extreme since 2008, the year Barack Obama was first elected president.

Since his takeover was announced Monday, Musk, whose political views are elusive and sometimes contradictory, stepped up his engagement with conservatives, responding to the tweets of several right-wing commentators.

Meanwhile, conservative influencers have enjoyed a considerable uptick in Twitter followers since the deal was announced, while public figures on the left of the political spectrum suffered a sharp decrease.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Donald Trump Jr. and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis - three of America's most forthright conservative mouthpieces - have experienced an influx of 175,960, 301,570 and 286,559 followers respectively since the news of Musk's takeover broke earlier this week.