Co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, now X, Jack Dorsey, has deleted his Instagram account as he announced he would no longer have anything to do with any of Meta apps, including Facebook and WhatsApp.
The former Twitter CEO announced this on X even as his followers queried the action and if he would be deleting his X account as well. Dorsey, who was also one of the early investors in Instagram and said the account he deleted, @jack, was one of the first 10 Instagram accounts created.
Although his response suggests privacy concerns with the Meta app, Dorsey did not state any reason for deleting the account. When asked the reasons, his response was: “All the reasons are too meta to be interesting.”
Who gets @jack?
Wondering who Instagram would give his handle @jack to, Dorsey posted:
- “Deleted my Instagram account after 12 years. I was one of the first 10 accounts I believe, and one of the first angel investors. Who will they give the @jack handle to?
deleted my instagram account after 12 years. was one of the first 10 accounts I believe, and one of the first angel investors.
who will they give the @jack handle to?
— jack (@jack) August 18, 2023
When asked whether he still has a Facebook, Dorsey said, he had neither Facebook nor WhatsApp as he wanted to be ‘Meta-free’.
Elon Musk reacts
Apparently satisfied with Dorsey’s decision, X owner, Elon Musk reacted to the post with a fire emoji. Musk and Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, have been at loggerheads, especially with the latter’s recent launch of Threads, a social media app mimicking the microblogging app, X.
The billionaire duo have also been flirting with the possibility of a super-fight that UFC president Dana White believes would generate over $1 billion in revenue for the best part of two months, but Zuckerberg recently cast doubt over it materializing.
Data concerns
Industry experts have been raising privacy concerns on Meta platforms, especially, Instagram and Facebook, and the newest addition, Threads as they collect a great deal of data on its users. Instagram, for instance, collects a staggering amount of information which includes the content they create, liked posts, comments, videos, and photos. Meta, however, claims that it can’t see the content of messages unless users report them for review.