The verified Facebook pages for SpaceX and Tesla have been eliminated after Elon Musk, the chief executive of both companies, was dared by a Twitter user to delete them.
The social media site has been roiled by reports that Facebook user data was exploited by British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica on behalf of President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.
The official Facebook pages for Tesla and SpaceX had roughly 2.6 million followers each.
#deletefacebook
On Friday morning, Musk replied to a tweet that Brian Acton, a cofounder of WhatsApp, wrote earlier in the week. Acton, who made a fortune when Facebook bought WhatsApp for $16bn in 2014, tweeted the trending "#deletefacebook" hashtag, adding that "it is time".
"What's Facebook?" Musk joked.
A user then challenged Musk to delete the SpaceX Facebook page. Musk coyly agreed and said he did not know there was such a page. It appears he also ordered the elimination of the Tesla page as well when another Twitter user brought it to his attention.
"Delete SpaceX page on Facebook if you're the man?" a user tweeted to Tesla Chief Executive Musk. His response: "I didn't realize there was one. Will do."
The Facebook page for Tesla-owned Solar City also appears to have been removed.
Many users also urged the billionaire to delete the profiles of his companies on Facebook's photo-sharing app, Instagram.
"Instagram's probably ok ... so long as it stays fairly independent," Musk responded.
The trio of Musk-led companies all still has verified accounts on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.
nice
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