Facebook pages for both Tesla and SpaceX are now inactive following a series of tweets from Chief Executive Elon Musk responding to a challenge for users to leave the social network.
When Brian Acton, co-founder of the Facebook-owned WhatsApp, tweeted the hashtag #deletefacebook, Musk replied with “What’s Facebook?” A follower then further encouraged Musk to pull his companies from the platform.
I didn’t realize there was one. Will do.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2018
Followers then asked about Facebook-owned Instagram, which gets a pass from Musk for now.
Instagram’s probably ok imo, so long as it stays fairly independent. 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. Also, we don’t advertise or pay for endorsements, so … don’t care.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2018
The #deletefacebook campaign is in response to news that consulting firm Cambridge Analytica improperly acquired data from 50 million Facebook users. The firm was employed by President Trump’s election campaign. U.S. lawmakers on Friday called on Zuckerberg to a attend a congressional hearing to explain how the data was accessed and ultimately sold.
Facebook and SpaceX have some working history. A SpaceX mission in 2016 to carry Facebook’s internet satellite failed. Musk’s Twitter followers pointed out the potential for bad blood between the CEOs.
Musk replied, “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.”
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) March 23, 2018
The SpaceX and Tesla Facebook pages each had about 2.6 million followers.