Elon Musk has once again commented on Instagram, this time responding to an X user who described the Meta-owned platform as an 'inherently female app' with 'zero benefit'. Musk replied with four words: 'Instagram is for girls.'
The comment, posted on 1 October, quickly circulated online and prompted reactions about how social media platforms are associated with different audiences. It also comes against the backdrop of Musk's long-running public rivalry with Meta and its platforms. The latest remark is not an isolated comment either.
Musk made a similar statement in May, when he was discussing how people use different social networks. His repeated description of Instagram as a platform for girls contrasts with available audience data, which shows its global audience is roughly evenly split between men and women. The figures provide a different picture of Instagram's global audience.
Elon Musk Repeats His Instagram 'For Girls' Remark
Musk made his latest comment while replying to a post from venture capitalist Geiger Capital.
The wording echoes a comment he made in May. During another discussion about social media, Musk wrote that Instagram was 'for girls' and later added a remark about grown men sending him their Instagram profiles and whether they were 'transitioning'. The latter comment prompted criticism from some social media users at the time.
Instagram is for girls
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 1, 2026
Musk has also previously promoted X as a platform for open discussion. In May, he argued that 'Only X is open' while claiming that other social media companies manipulate results behind closed doors. That is a description of X's role that reflects Musk's own stated view rather than an established assessment of every competing platform.
The latest post also comes at a time when Instagram is used for far more than the image-based posting associated with its earlier identity. Meta reported that Instagram had reached three billion monthly active users by September 2025, with Meta saying messaging, Reels and recommendations had driven much of its recent growth.
Instagram Data Tells a Different Story as Musk and Meta Compete
Available audience figures do not show Instagram as a predominantly female platform globally. Data from We Are Social, DataReportal and Meltwater published through Statista showed that men accounted for 50.6 per cent of Instagram's global audience in October 2025, while women accounted for 49.4 per cent.
In the US, the same figures put Instagram's addressable audience at about 55.2 per cent women and 44.8 per cent men. The data also refers to Meta's addressable advertising audience, so it should not be treated as a direct census of every Instagram user.
There is another reason Musk's comments attract attention: Instagram sits inside a company that operates one of X's clearest competitors. Meta launched Threads in July 2023 as a text-based social network that competed with Twitter, now known as X, giving users an alternative for public conversations while using Instagram's existing ecosystem.
Meta reported further growth for Threads in June 2026, when it said the platform had reached 500 million monthly active users. The figure also highlights the scale of Meta's social-media business, although Musk did not mention Threads or Meta in his 1 October post.
Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg have also had a highly publicised public rivalry. The latest comment therefore comes within a broader history of public criticism between Musk and Meta, while the gender-based description remains Musk's characterisation.
