Elon Musk says Instagram is an app for girls

Elon Musk has a history of making controversial remarks online, particularly in recent years. And if one thing is clear, the tech trillionaire does not like Instagram. Musk, who bought Twitter and later rebranded it to X, says that Instagram is an app for girls.Elon Musk once again shared his thoughts on Instagram while replying to a post on X. The author of the original post had claimed that they were leaving Instagram as it was an “inherently female app” with “zero benefit.” Musk swiftly responded, saying, “Instagram is for girls.” Elon Musk wrote on X. This is not the first time Elon Musk has labelled Instagram as a female-centric app. In May this year, Musk said the same thing.Why does Elon Musk think Instagram is for girls?Now, it may not be a surprise that Musk doesn’t want users to switch to, or use, Instagram. After all, he has his own social media platform X. But it seems that there is more to the story. Back in May, when Musk’s remarks went viral, the tech trillionaire shed more light into why this might be the case. He said at the time, “Sometimes grown men send me their Instagram profiles and I’m like are you transitioning or what?”Over the years, Elon Musk has criticised the practice of “transitioning”, which is gender change. Vivian Jenna Wilson is Musk’s estranged transgender daughter who came out in 2020. Since then, the two have had a rocky relationship with Musk claiming that Vivian had been infected by the "woke mind virus.” It is believed that Elon Musk might also associate certain content with “girls”, often deeming it unserious, gossipy and frivolous. This is also the kind of content that is most popular on Instagram. Though it is also possible that Musk just wants to ragebait users with his remarks, as he often likes to do.Coming to data, Instagram does not seem to be a female-only platform. As per Statistica, Instagram had 50.6 per cent of male users in October 2025 with 49.4 per cent of female users. In the US, the figures are different though with about 55.2 per cent identifying as women and 44.8 per cent as men.However, Musk has also mentioned that he sees X as the only serious platform for discussions online. “Only X is open, the other social media companies manipulate the results behind closed doors,” he said previously.- Ends