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Elon Musk admits to having a secret Instagram account

SpaceX founder’s admission came amid denial of ‘secret’ Twitter account

Gino Spocchia
Tuesday 24 May 2022 19:08 BST
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Elon Musk says Twitter deal 'cannot move forward' until it proves bot numbers
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Billionaire and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has reportedly admitted to having a “secret” account on Instagram.

Tweeting in response to an apparent fan on Sunday, the SpaceX founder rubbished a user’s claims he was secretly running the account.

“Many people think that @elonmusk runs my Twitter account. And it’s TRUE,” wrote user Pranay Pathole.

“He’s a super busy guy, building rockets, making life multi-planetary, building futuristic electric vehicles, and digging tunnels,” the user added, “And somehow he finds time to run multiple Twitter accounts. YES.”

Mr Musk tweeted back by denying the claims about running Pathole’s account, but did admit to allegedly operating a private Instagram account.

He wrote: “Haha, I don’t even have a burner Twitter account! I do have a cheesy secret Instagram account, so I can click on links that friends send me.”

While it was unclear what the account was called, or even if it existed, it remains unclear why Mr Musk decided to reveal the existence of a “secret” account on Instagram.

He is currently in the process of buying Twitter for $44bn, although has since put that deal on hold after demanding the company proves less than five per cent of accounts are “bots”.

The surprise move was followed by a demand by Mr Musk for a 25 per cent drop in the asking price “if 25% of the users are bots, absolutely”, he tweeted on Saturday.

It comes as the Tesla CEO responds to claims he and his company SpaceX paid $250,000  to settle claims by an unnamed flight attendant who accused him of exposing himself to her on a private jet in 2018, as Business Insider reported.

The report cited an anonymous who was a friend of the flight attendant and, as Reuters reported, allegedly provided a statement as part of a private settlement process.

Mr Musk called the allegations “utterly untrue” on Twitter last week and said the alleged exposure “never happened.” He also suggested in response to the article that he  had only been accused of such a crime once, making the claim less likely.

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