Billionaire Elon Musk has shared a distaste for social media platforms from Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) over the years.

Meta-owned Instagram and rival social media platform TikTok, which is now owned by a group of American companies, may have attracted Musk to use platforms outside his X platform owned by xAI/SpaceX ahead of a highly anticipated IPO.

Elon Musk on Instagram, TikTok?

For years, Musk has shared his hatred for platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, which are all owned by Meta Platforms. The billionaire recently took on alleged privacy issues with WhatsApp messages.

In past interviews, Musk has admitted to deleting official accounts for Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) and SpaceX on Facebook, along with his personal Instagram account.

Tesla recently began advertising on Facebook, an interesting turn of events from Musk given his past hatred for the Meta-owned platform.

A new report from the New York Times says a verified account belonging to "@elonmusk" has popped up on Instagram, but has not posted. The account features the same profile picture Musk is using on X, where he has 237.9 million followers. The Instagram account has 18,000 followers and is shown as private, with Musk's X account link listed in the biography.

That account has not made any posts, but is believed to belong to Musk, according to the New York Times. Benzinga reached out to Musk and Tesla for comment.

"Just don't like Facebook. Gives me the willies," Musk previously said about Facebook. In 2022, Musk admitted to having a secret Instagram account where he could click on links.

That interview, which happened before Musk officially acquired Twitter, now known as X, saw the billionaire say he only needed one mode of communication in reference to Twitter.

The Tesla CEO admitted he previously had his own personal public Instagram account, but found himself taking a lot of selfies as a result.

"Instagram, man — it's a thirst trap, you know."

Musk said he questioned why he found himself taking so many selfies and trying to get likes on Instagram.

"Whatever message I'm trying to get across I can put on Twitter."

In 2023, Musk doubled down on his criticism of Instagram, saying the social media platform makes users "depressed."

An account belonging to "@elonmusk" has also popped up on TikTok and recently made its first post. That post, which serves as a montage of recent highlights for Tesla and SpaceX, has been viewed 2.3 million times.

The TikTok account that could belong to Musk has 114.7 thousand followers with only one video posted.

Social Media Ramp Coming?

In recent years, Musk and Tesla have ramped up their presence on social media, including advertising for several key events.

This includes the vote on Musk's pay package and recent increased advertising for Tesla FSD, a key component of Tesla's future growth plans and Musk's compensation metrics.

The New York Times pushes the idea that Musk having the TikTok and Instagram personal accounts could be related to the upcoming highly anticipated SpaceX IPO.

While the IPO is already highly anticipated and has gotten plenty of positive coverage, Musk being active across multiple platforms could pull in new users and highlight the space and AI company's key financials and future growth plans.

Tesla investors already know about SpaceX and xAI. Users on X who follow Musk already know about the combined company.

That leaves potential investors who are currently using other social media platforms.

While Musk would love to have investors in xAI/SpaceX come from his existing fan base, to hit the reported $2 trillion valuation, he could need to pull in new fans and investors.

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