Elon Musk has reignited his long-running rivalry with Meta and its social-media platforms after posting that “Instagram is for girls” on X, drawing a fresh wave of reactions online.
The rivalry has also expanded beyond social media. Musk’s xAI and Meta are competing in the artificial-intelligence sector, while Musk has increasingly integrated AI products such as Grok with his broader technology businesses. X itself was acquired by xAI in a $33 billion deal announced in 2025, bringing Musk’s social-media and AI operations under the same corporate umbrella.
Musk made the remark on October 1 while responding to a post by venture capitalist Geiger Capital, which said it had “officially deleted Instagram ” and described the platform as an “inherently female app.
The competition intensified in July 2023, when Meta launched Threads, a text-based social-media platform developed by the Instagram team. Musk replied simply: “Instagram is for girls. The post was widely circulated on X, with thousands of users reacting to it. The remark is not the first time Musk has targeted Instagram. In May, he made a similar comment while responding to a viral discussion about social-media habits. His comments prompted criticism and a wider debate over gender stereotypes on social media. Musk’s latest jab comes against the backdrop of a broader rivalry between his X platform and Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg . Meta described Threads as a service for sharing text updates and joining public conversations, with users able to sign in using their Instagram accounts. Threads’ close connection to Instagram gave Meta access to the platform’s enormous existing user base. Meta has since continued developing Threads independently, adding features including a web version, keyword search, trending topics and interoperability with parts of the ‘fediverse’. Musk’s latest Instagram remark has meanwhile prompted users to debate the comment’s meaning, with some agreeing with him by saying, “X is for the boys. “I don’t agree While others criticizing the characterization of Instagram as a platform primarily for women. I think Instagram is a welcoming space for all genders, and I generally see much more body positivity, inclusivity and diverse representation there as well! Another user wrote , “Bro realized that after creating an Insta account for himself. The latest exchange remains a social-media spat, but it adds another chapter to the years-long Musk-Meta rivalry that began with the battle between X and Threads and has since expanded into the broader competition over social media and artificial intelligence.
Musk wrote , “Instagram is for girls,” before separately mocking men who send him links to their Instagram profiles.
Earlier coverage of his May comments documented similarly divided reactions online .
