Elon Musk joins #deletefacebook, removes SpaceX and Tesla pages

Billionaire Elon Musk has had the SpaceX and Tesla Facebook pages taken down after he was challenged about it on Twitter.

Verified Facebook pages of Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla have disappeared, minutes after the Silicon Valley billionaire promised on Twitter to take down the pages when challenged by users.

"Delete SpaceX page on Facebook if you're the man?" a user tweeted to Tesla chief executive Musk. His response: "I didn't realize there was one. Will do."

Facebook pages of SpaceX and Tesla, which had millions of followers, are no longer accessible.

Musk had begun the exchange by responding to a tweet from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton on the deletefacebook hashtag.

The hashtag gained prominence after the world's largest social network upset users by mishandling data, which ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy that worked on US President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.

"What's Facebook?" Musk tweeted on Friday.

Many users also urged the billionaire to delete the profiles of his companies on Facebook's photo-sharing app Instagram.

"Instagram's probably ok ... so long as it stays fairly independent," Musk responded.
"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."

Musk has had run-ins with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the past.
Elon Musk speaks onstage at Elon Musk Answers Your Questions! during SXSW at ACL Live on March 11, 2018 in Austin, Texas.
Elon Musk speaks onstage at Elon Musk Answers Your Questions! during SXSW at ACL Live on March 11, 2018 in Austin, Texas. Source: Getty
Last year, a war of words broke out between Musk and Zuckerberg over whether robots will become smart enough to kill their human creators.

When Zuckerberg was asked about Musk's views on the dangers of robots, he chided "naysayers" whose "doomsday scenarios" were "irresponsible".

In response, Musk tweeted: "His understanding of the subject is limited."

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Published 24 March 2018 7:32am
Updated 24 March 2018 8:35am


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