After Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently broke silence over the Cambridge Analytica's data breach controversy, he's being summoned before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee. While the date and time for the hearing is being decided, "Delete Facebook" uproar continues to gain a stronger foothold.
After Brian Acton – co-founder of WhatsApp, the company which was bought by Facebook for $16 billion in 2014 – recently tweeted to his followers that "it is time" to delete Facebook, Elon Musk breathed life into the day-old tweet with a snarky reply.
"What's Facebook?" Musk tweeted, referring to his absence from the world's largest social networking platform. But that wasn't the end of it. Things escalated quickly when follower challenged Musk to delete SpaceX page on Facebook with nearly 2.6 million followers.
I didn’t realize there was one. Will do.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2018
But another user pointed out why to stop at just deleting the SpaceX page and showed a screenshot of the Tesla's Facebook page. It didn't take long for Musk to agree.
Definitely. Looks lame anyway.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 23, 2018
If the responses seem too impulsive, Musk explained the instant decision making in a follow-up tweet where he expressed his support for Facebook-owned Instagram.
"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," Musk tweeted.
Musk's personal Instagram account has nearly 7 million followers, while SpaceX and Tesla have 3 million and 4 million, respectively. It appears Musk took a proactive step in deleting the Facebook page of Tesla-owned Solar City even though no one pointed out.
#deletefacebook
After an alleged data theft of nearly 50 million users involving Cambridge Analytica, Facebook came under massive scrutiny for its privacy laws and the amount of data it shares with third-parties. As a result of which, a campaign with the hashtag #deletefacebook was started and it quickly traction and rose up the search results.
Many users have been supporting the campaign, but it is unclear how many users have so far deleted their Facebook accounts in protest of the data scandal.
Musk vs Zuckerberg
The two billionaires haven't shared a healthy social media relation. When Zuckerberg suggested that Musk over-hypes the potential dangers of AI, SpaceX CEO wasn't the one to stay quiet. He tweeted in response saying Zuckerberg's understanding of AI is limited.
This was last year. But in 2016, Zuckerberg wasn't too happy with Musk after his SpaceX rocket exploded on the launch pad, destroying an Internet-beaming satellite. After he expressed his discontent in a Facebook post, Musk sarcastically responded to him, saying "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," CNN reported.
