Musk deletes Facebook pages of Tesla, SpaceX

Verified Facebook pages of Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX and electric carmaker Tesla Inc disappeared on Friday, minutes after the Silicon Valley billionaire promised on Twitter to take down the pages when challenged by users.

"Delete SpaceX page on Facebook if you're the man?" a user tweeted to Tesla Chief Executive Musk. His response: "I didn't realize there was one. Will do."

Facebook pages of SpaceX and Tesla, which had millions of followers, are no longer accessible.

Musk had begun the exchange by responding to a tweet from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton on the #deletefacebook tag.

The hashtag gained prominence after the world's largest social network upset users by mishandling data, which ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica - a political consultancy that worked on US President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.

Meanwhile, British regulators finished searching the offices of Cambridge Analytica before dawn yesterday and said they would examine the evidence before considering "next steps".

Cambridge Analytica, which worked on US President Donald Trump's election campaign, has been accused of illegally mining tens of millions of users' Facebook data and using it to target potential voters.

The row has sparked a major crisis for Facebook, prompting investigations on both sides of the Atlantic and sending its share price plunging amid fears of additional regulation that could affect its business model.