Elon Musk Shows His Impulsive Side by Deleting Facebook Accounts After a Dare…On Twitter!

If recent happenings on the streets of Twitter are anything to go by, we may just have learned something we probably all suspected but never knew for certain. Elon Musk is a man of his word.

Just recently, he responded to a call by one Twitter user to #deletefacebook by replying tongue-in-cheek, ‘What’s Facebook? His response was followed up by one follower posing a test to him. He tracked down Musk’s private, Tesla and SpaceX Facebook accounts and called him out for still having them.

In the U.S., Cambridge Analytica had a working relationship with Trump’s 2016 campaign. In the U.K., they are said to have influenced the social media conversation on Brexit.

Weirdly enough, the person who caused Elon Musk to respond to the #deletefacebook debacle was WhatsApp co-founder, Brian Acton. He sold the messaging service to Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion. Odd right?

Until now, Acton hasn’t been available for further comment on the matter, nor has he divulged more information on why he was in support of shutting down a company that has been a benefactor to him in the past.

However, one can safely make the guess that Acton was perhaps disgusted by Facebook’s recent collaborations with developers who’ve allowed user data to be mined. Cambridge Analytica managed to source details from up to 87 million users on the platform. The data was intended to be used for political campaigns in both the U.S. and U.K elections.

Public Outrage

Numerous people have openly expressed their dismay at Facebook for failing to ensure that policies are in place to protect users’ data. This is in light of recent happenings at Facebook in thanks to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The company managed to access users’ data by buying information from an app masquerading as a quiz/puzzle about user’s personalities. Instead, the app harvested users’ data and not only that, their friends’ data too.

The backlash has prompted Zuckerberg to address the media on Wednesday. In a one of a kind question-and-answer session, Facebook’s C.E.O. Mark Zuckerberg sought to provide clarity on a few issues.

The coming week is going to present a chance for Facebook to testify before Facebook about its ‘use and protection of user data.’

The session was obviously an attempt by Facebook to try to address concerns among millions of people who consider themselves avid users of the social media platform. Openly, he had to defend himself as still being the best person to run Facebook. He likened the recent debacle to a learning experience that Facebook was looking to rebound strongly from.

Due to his stance as being the best in leading Facebook in the days to come, he was quizzed further about performance. Would anyone be taking the fall? Not really. Zuckerberg insisted that the buck stops with him and he would not throw anyone under the bus for traction. In doing so, he depicted the Facebook management was a closely-knit fraternity.

Questions on whether the Facebook board had discussed whether he should step down were next in line. To them, he simply replied that he was unaware of such talks amongst board members.

Feud

To say that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have a cordial relationship would be a bit of a stretch at this point. While both leaders are world leaders in their respective fields, the recent clash could have something to do with a SpaceX-Facebook project collaboration not too long ago.

The year was 2016 and Facebook was keen on deploying internet satellites meant to provide ‘connectivity to millions of African entrepreneurs.’ While the collaboration was done in good faith, the SpaceX rocket exploded and in the process, destroyed Facebook’s internet satellite.

Elon Musk was obviously incensed by Zuckerberg’s action to express his dismay in SpaceX’s failure to launch the internet satellite service thanks to shortcomings. In response, Musk noted that Facebook had insurance to cover the damage and that in compensation; SpaceX had offered to deliver the internet satellites again without any extra cost.

The two have previously also sparred when Zuckerberg was asked about Musk’s take on the possible danger of AI robots. In response, he claimed that such talk was irresponsible. He added that such talk could only emerge from naysayers and people intent on creating doomsday scenarios.

The brouhaha between the two probably won’t trouble either too much though. With effective PR strategies and management decisions, Facebook should be able to recover. On the other hand, Musk is fresh off a $55.8 billion deal expected in the next 10 years. Whether he’ll need those deleted Facebook pages to achieve his ambitions remains to be seen.