During a tweetstorm, Elon Musk has removed both of his companies’ Facebook pages after being challenged to do so by a few of his followers. The pages of both SpaceX and Tesla are now inactive. Each had around 2.6 million followers.
Musk was answering a flurry of tweets this morning when he responded to one from Signal’s Brian Acton, co-founder of the Facebook-owned WhatsApp, that contained the hashtag #deletefacebook. “What’s Facebook?” Musk queried. Afterward, a follower told Musk he should delete SpaceX’s Facebook page if Musk was “the man.” Musk claimed he didn’t even know it existed and then said he would, probably in an attempt to preserve his “the man” status.
I didn’t realize there was one. Will do. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2018
Definitely. Looks lame anyway. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2018
Things ballooned from there. After someone showed Musk a screengrab of the SpaceX Facebook page, he noted it was the first time he had seen it and that it would “be gone soon.” Then someone prompted him to delete Tesla’s Facebook page, with Musk responding that it “looks lame anyway.” And just for good measure, it seems that the Facebook page for Tesla-owned Solar City has disappeared as well.
Musk’s massive Facebook troll comes on the heels of a particularly bad week for the social media company. Over the weekend, it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm that worked on President Trump’s election campaign, had improperly acquired data from 50 million Facebook users. The backlash has continued since then, with Facebook users showing concern over the disregard for their privacy and government officials demanding answers.
Despite the anti-Facebook stance Musk is taking, SpaceX and Tesla are still alive on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. Perhaps Musk will shun that platform, too — if he is the man.
In a jab against the embattled social network, Musk joked ‘What’s Facebook?’ before deactivating his companies’ official pages
Elon Musk joined the #DeleteFacebook movement on Friday, taking down official pages for two of his companies, Tesla and SpaceX, after he learned – apparently for the first time – that the pages existed.
The billionaire chief executive engaged in some light-hearted Twitter trolling on Friday morning, responding to a tweet from the WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, which urged people to delete the social network with the query: “What’s Facebook?”
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) What’s Facebook?
When a Twitter user brought up the fact that SpaceX has a profile on the massive social media platform and asked whether he would put his money where his mouth was, Musk responded: “I didn’t realize there was one. Will do.”
Musk also said that he had “literally never seen it even once”, presumably breaking the heart of the social media staffer whose job it was to create and manage the page in the first place.
Minutes later, both the Facebook pages of both Tesla and SpaceX had been deactivated.
A Tesla spokesperson declined to comment on the motivation.
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Facebook has faced an onslaught of criticism from elected officials, former employees, the press and its own users in the wake of the Observer’s reporting that personal information about 50 million US Facebook users was harvested largely without users’ knowledge or consent and then improperly given to the political consultancy company Cambridge Analytica.
But Musk has long had a touchy relationship with Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg.
In 2016, Zuckerberg was a touch less than gracious about the accidental explosion of a SpaceX rocket carrying a satellite intended for use on his Internet.org project. “I’m deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX’s launch failure destroyed our satellite,” he wrote at the time.
Musk also addressed that brouhaha, responding to a reporter’s tweet about the incident: “Yeah, my fault for being an idiot. We did give them a free launch to make up for it and I think they had some insurance.”
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Yeah, my fault for being an idiot. We did give them a free launch to make up for it and I think they had some insurance.
The rival billionaires have also traded barbs over artificial intelligence. Musk has long pushed for regulation of AI, warning that the technology poses a “fundamental risk to the existence of civilization”.
In July 2017, Zuckerberg addressed Musk’s views in a Facebook Live broadcast, stating that focusing on “doomsday scenarios” was “really negative” and “pretty irresponsible”.
Musk shot back in a tweet, saying: “I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.”
Still, Musk’s commitment to deleting Facebook does not appear to extend to Instagram, the photo sharing service owned by Facebook where the billionaire frequently shares selfies and snapshots of his travels, cars, and rockets.
Asked about his continued use of Instagram, Musk tweeted: “It’s borderline. FB influence is slowing creeping in.”
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Elon Musk To Facebook: Mmm ... K, Bye
Enlarge this image toggle caption John Raoux/AP John Raoux/AP
There is no greater burn than pretending you've never heard of something when that thing has 2.2 billion monthly active users. And Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, lobbed a fiery zinger at the world's leading social-media behemoth Friday when he asked on Twitter: "What's Facebook?"
He added fuel to the flame when he later deleted both company pages, becoming another tech billionaire jumping on the #DeleteFacebook movement.
The jab at Facebook started in response to a challenge posed by WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, who earlier this week encouraged users to cancel their accounts — even though it was Facebook that made him a very rich man. In 2014, Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion.
"It is time," Acton tweeted, adding "#deletefacebook."
But it wasn't until another follower inserted himself into the conversation, goading Musk to get rid of the SpaceX page, that the entrepreneur said, "I didn't realize there was one. Will do."
Apparently, he had "literally never seen it even once."
Whether that is true or not, the pages have vanished.
The online exodus from Facebook gained momentum in the wake of a scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, a British company that collected millions of Facebook users' data without their knowledge or permission to help Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.
The political consulting company, for which former White House staffer Steve Bannon served as vice president at the time, collected personal information from an estimated 50 million users. It was used to create "psychographic" or personality profiles for voters in order to target them with Trump-related content.
In a tweet later Friday, Musk said leaving Facebook wasn't a personal sacrifice, despite the 2.6 million likes that SpaceX had accumulated over the years, as Business Insider noted.
"I don't use FB & never have, so don't think I'm some kind of martyr or my companies are taking a huge blow," he wrote.
There is also a tumultuous history between Musk and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. They disagree on the benefits of artificial technology. So much so that Zuckerberg once called Musk a "naysayer."
Musk wasted little time in shooting back over Twitter, writing, "I've talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited."
And in 2016, Zuckerberg noted that one of Musk's SpaceX rockets blew up on a launch pad and incinerated a Facebook satellite.
"I'm deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent," Zuckerberg posted to Facebook at the time.
While the statement appears mild, it was perceived as an escalation of their feud.
When onlookers to Friday's Twitter scuffle reminded Musk of the incident, he said, "It was my fault for being an idiot."
Musk's disdain for Facebook, however, does not extend to Instagram, where Musk has 6.9 million followers. Facebook bought the photo- and video-sharing company in 2012.
"Instagram's probably ok imo, so long as it stays fairly independent," he explained on Twitter.
In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, Zuckerberg responded to questions about the #DeleteFacebook movement, saying it has not had a major impact so far.
"I don't think we've seen a meaningful number of people act on that, but, you know, it's not good," he said.
"I think it's a clear signal that this is a major trust issue for people, and I understand that. And whether people delete their app over it or just don't feel good about using Facebook, that's a big issue that I think we have a responsibility to rectify."
