Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has sparked a fresh debate over gender stereotypes on social media after saying that “Instagram is for girls.”
Musk made the remark on X early Friday while responding to Geiger Capital, who posted that they had “officially deleted Instagram” and called it “an inherently female app” with “zero benefit.”
“Instagram is for girls,” Musk wrote in response.
The comment quickly drew reactions on X, with some users agreeing with Musk’s view while others questioned the idea that social media platforms should be associated with a particular gender.
One X user pushed back against Musk, writing, “I don’t agree. I think Instagram is a welcoming space for all genders, and I generally see much more body positivity, inclusivity and diverse representation there as well.”
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Musk’s latest comment is also not the first time he has described Instagram in similar terms. He made a nearly identical remark in May during a discussion about social media habits and the kind of content people share online.
At the time, Musk also questioned why adult men would send him links to their Instagram profiles. His comments drew criticism from some users, who described the remarks as sexist and dismissive of the platform’s diverse user base.
Musk has not offered evidence to support the claim that Instagram is primarily a platform for women. Available user data presents a more mixed picture of the platform’s audience.
Globally, Instagram’s user base is broadly split between men and women, with males accounting for roughly 52.5% to 52.7% of users and females making up about 46.4% to 47.3%, depending on the dataset and measurement period.
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The gender split is somewhat different in the United States, where Instagram has a slightly larger female adult audience. About 54.5% of adult Instagram users in the U.S. are female, compared with around 44.6% who are male.
Instagram also remains one of the world’s largest social media platforms. In 2025, it ranked third globally among social media networks, with more than 2 billion people using the platform each month.
The U.S. is one of Instagram’s biggest markets, with more than 179.9 million users, giving it the second-largest Instagram audience worldwide.
Musk’s latest one-line comment has therefore opened up a broader conversation about how social media platforms are perceived and whether apps should be viewed through gender-based stereotypes rather than the diverse communities that use them.