Elon Musk’s Instagram Account Is Suddenly Unavailable

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musk may be heeding calls to step away from social media -- though not from the account where he’s been stirring up controversy.

Musk’s Instagram was unavailable on Tuesday morning, spurring speculation that the Tesla Inc. chief executive officer may have deleted his account. A Tesla spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Musk left the photo-sharing app.

Musk’s social media use has come under intense scrutiny of late. Earlier this month, he claimed on Twitter that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private, without providing evidence. Almost a full week later, he wrote in a blog post that it would be premature to release details including the nature and source of the funding. Some investors and analysts have since cast doubt on Musk’s ability to pull off the deal, and his tweet was said to have drawn a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In July, after Musk called a cave explorer who helped rescue a dozen boys in Thailand a pedophile, Gene Munster of venture capital firm Loup Ventures wrote in an open letter that the Tesla CEO consider taking a “sabbatical” from Twitter. Musk later apologized.

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