Elon Musk Orders Deletion of Tesla's Facebook Account

Tesla CEO Elon Musk ordered employees to delete the automaker’s official Facebook page today following the social media giant’s widely publicized privacy scandal.

On Thursday, #DeleteFacebook began trending on Twitter, which was made following revelations that Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica to access the personal data of up to 50 million of its users. One user challenged Elon Musk to delete SpaceX’s Facebook page in response to the growing movement, and the outspoken entrepreneur simply replied “I didn’t realize there was one. Will do.” Shortly after, another user asked him to delete Tesla’s official page, to which he obliged in a similarly laissez-faire response.

Definitely. Looks lame anyway.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2018

Completing the trifecta, Musk’s solar panel company he owns with Lyndon and Peter Rive, SolarCity, also deleted its Facebook page. Some users began suggesting the companies delete their respective Instagram accounts as well, which is owned by Facebook, but Musk said Instagram is “probably” okay.

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

Musk’s companies leaving Facebook are the least of the company’s problems. Since the privacy controversy came to light this week, WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton has encouraged people to delete their Facebook account, while influential Google researcher François Chollet urged AI developers not to work with the company. The social media company has since been hit with four lawsuits over the scandal as well.

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