'Instagram is so thirsty': Elon Musk explains why he deleted his Instagram account on Twitter (TSLA)

Elon Musk has offered an explanation via Twitter why he has quit Instagram.

"Instagram is so thirsty, yet gives you Death by Water," Musk tweeted in response to a question about what drove him to delete his account on the social media platform.

Musk also tweeted an alternative explanation: "Didn't 'like' it".

Musk's Instagram account, which had more than 8 million followers, disappeared in the early hours of Monday morning.

Musk's philosophical tweet seems to possibly be a reference to T.S. Eliot's 'Death by Water,' one of the section of 'The Waste Land.' Musk tweeted the link to the Wikipedia page of Eliot's poem earlier in the day.

The deactivation of the account came soon after rapper Azealia Banks posted a series of messages about Musk on her Instagram account, demanding in a series of updates that the billionaire returns her phone. She also threatened to call the police.

"It's a f---ing mess I want my phone and I want to go home," Banks told Business Insider when asked for further details via Instagram DM late Monday evening Pacific Time. According to Banks, her own lawyer took away her phone at Musks' lawyers' instruction.

"I'm like in tears right now," she added. "This has nothing to do with me."

A spokesman for Musk said: "Elon doesn't know Azealia Banks. He doesn't have her phone and neither do his lawyers."

Earlier in August, Banks made headlines when she stayed at one of Musk's Los Angeles properties soon after Tesla's CEO announced he had secured funding to take the company private. According to Banks, she overheard Musk "scrounging for investors to cover his ass" as he sought funding.