Elon Musk takes Tesla and SpaceX Facebook pages offline

Elon Musk has deleted the Facebook page of his companies Tesla and SpaceX after a Twitter user challenged him to do so. More organizations took measures this week around Facebook, which is embroiled in a scandal surrounding the Cambridge Analytica company.

Musk reacted Friday to the comment of WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, who earlier this week called on people via Twitter to delete their Facebook page. Then a Twitter user challenged him to delete SpaceX’s Facebook page, which Musk replied that it ‘would be gone soon’. At the time of writing, both SpaceX’s and Tesla’s Facebook pages are no longer accessible. The profiles on Instagram, a Facebook subsidiary, still exist because Musk considers them an ‘edge case’.

Musk’s decision follows other organizations that announced measures this week. Mozilla, for example, said it would not advertise on Facebook again until the company started to better protect user data. Other companies are also taking a temporary hiatus from their Facebook ads, such as Germany’s Commerzbank and Sonos. In addition, several lawsuits have been filed against Facebook, including by shareholders.

The developments come after news that Cambridge Analytica has obtained the data of 50 million Facebook users. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized this week and promised to come up with measures, such as limiting access to data by apps and games. He said in an interview that the scandal undermines users’ confidence to put posts online, which would be the bedrock of Facebook and Instagram.