Yahoo Finance ‘Delete Facebook’: Elon Musk’s grave warning
The Tesla boss might be riding on his company’s recent stock market rally, but he hasn’t forgotten about his disdain for social media giant Facebook.
Responding to a Twitter post by Borat actor Sacha Baron Cohen calling for Facebook to be regulated by governments rather than be “ruled by an emperor”, Musk said: "#DeleteFacebook It’s lame”.
We don’t let 1 person control the water for 2.5 billion people.
We don’t let 1 person control electricity for 2.5 billion people.
Why do we let 1 man control the information seen by 2.5 billion people?
Facebook needs to be regulated by governments, not ruled by an emperor! pic.twitter.com/o4hNRFNpgt— Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) February 5, 2020
#DeleteFacebook It’s lame
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 8, 2020
While Musk didn’t explain his reasons for deleting Facebook, it could have something to do with the site’s privacy issues.
In 2018, not long after the Cambridge Analytica scandal emerged, Musk deleted the official Facebook page of both Tesla and SpaceX.
At the time, he said it wasn’t a political statement, but that something about the site unsettled him.
“I didn’t do this because someone dared me to do it. Just don’t like Facebook. Gives me the willies. Sorry.”
Apple co-founder and author Stephen King both quit Facebook
Musk’s tweet follows author Stephen King’s decision to quit Facebook.
“I’m quitting Facebook,” King tweeted on February 1.
“Not comfortable with the flood of false information that’s allowed in its political advertising, nor am I confident in its ability to protect its users’ privacy.”
In July last year, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told reporters that people “should figure out a way to get off Facebook” due to the way it harvests personal data.
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