Jack Dorsey Deletes Instagram Account and All Meta Apps

Jack Dorsey, the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, and currently involved with X, has recently taken the step of deleting his Instagram account. This move comes as part of his decision to disassociate himself from all Meta-owned applications, including Facebook and WhatsApp.

Dorsey made this announcement on X, even as his followers raised questions about his action and whether he intended to delete his X account too. Notably, Dorsey was an early investor in Instagram and revealed that the account he removed, @jack, held the distinction of being one of the platform’s inaugural ten accounts.

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?

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.