• Elon Musk slams Instagram for not tackling child exploitation and compromising user data privacy.
• Instagram’s parent company, Meta, faces intense criticism from Musk over data sharing with governments.

Elon Musk has criticized Instagram’s handling of child exploitation and data privacy issues in a post on X.

What Happened: On Sunday, Musk took to X to express his concerns over Instagram’s alleged child exploitation problem and data privacy issues.

He accused Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Instagram’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc. of succumbing to censorship pressure and providing governments with backdoor access to user data. Musk’s post was in response to a post by Naomi Seibt.

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Musk’s comments came following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, the Russian-born entrepreneur behind the encrypted messaging service Telegram, in France.

Durov faces multiple charges linked to his platform and could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. In a post on X, Musk said that “It’s 2030 in Europe and you’re being executed for liking a meme”.

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He wrote, “Because he already caved into censorship pressure. Instagram has a massive child exploitation problem, but no arrest for Zuck, as he censors free speech and gives governments backdoor access to user data.”

Why It Matters: Musk’s comments come amid growing concerns about data privacy and child safety on social media platforms. Instagram has been under scrutiny for its handling of these issues.

Musk’s criticism highlights the increasing pressure on tech companies to address these concerns and the potential repercussions if they fail to do so.