"I’m ready to fight Zuck anywhere, anytime with any rules. LFG!!!," wrote Elon Musk on his personal X account.
Shortly after, the person Musk referred to responded on his Instagram account, "Send me the location." That person was Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta.
In response, Dana White, the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) boss, said he was ready to facilitate the fight if both were serious.
"The biggest fight of all time was Floyd Mayweather Jr. versus Conor McGregor, but I think this Musk versus Zuckerberg fight is three times bigger," he said.
Starting from a War of Words
It all began on September 1, 2016.
The day was just beginning. SpaceX, Musk's spaceflight company, was preparing for the pre-launch of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the AMOS-6 satellite. All teams were in position. The countdown began. Until suddenly...
BOOM!!
The Falcon 9 exploded on the pad before it could launch. SpaceX spokesman Phil Larson explained that the incident was caused by an anomaly in the Falcon 9's oxygen tank, which spread to the propellant tank.
Zuckerberg expressed his disappointment, saying, "I am deeply disappointed because this incident has destroyed our satellite that was meant to connect many people in Africa."
Zuckerberg had the right to express his disappointment because the AMOS-6 satellite carried by the Falcon 9 belonged to Facebook and Eutelsat, a French satellite company.
A year later, during a Facebook Live session, an audience member asked Zuckerberg his opinion on Musk's concerns about AI development. Zuckerberg responded that, unlike the pessimistic Musk, he viewed it positively.
Musk then responded to Zuckerberg's statement, saying, "I've talked to him about this. His understanding of AI is still shallow."
The feud didn't stop there. When Facebook was embroiled in the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018, Musk seized the opportunity to promote the #DeleteFacebook campaign. The war of words heated up and spread to their inner circles.
When Musk acquired Twitter (which was later renamed X), Chris Cox, Chief of Product at Meta, criticized Musk for his controversial policies and announced the launch of a new platform to rival X.
The platform Cox referred to was Threads. Made similar to X, Threads immediately faced attacks from Musk. Musk even sued Meta for alleged corporate secrets violations and employee poaching.
Zuckerberg retaliated by showing that Musk was censoring the word "Threads." The peak of the feud, as readers have seen, came when Musk challenged Zuckerberg to settle their differences in the ring.
Continuing with Scandals
Both Musk and Zuckerberg have not only engaged in a war of words but also have a history of scandals that attracted public attention.
Some argue that Musk's criticism is valid because Zuckerberg and Meta have been proven to violate privacy.
For instance, the European Consumer Organization (BEUC) suspected Meta of illegally collecting data from hundreds of millions of Facebook and Instagram users in Europe to analyze their sexual orientation, emotional state, and vulnerability to addiction without user consent.
Meta was found guilty of violating data protection regulations and was fined $1.3 billion.
Of course, the biggest spotlight was on the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This scandal came to light in 2018 after The Guardian and The New York Times published the testimony of a whistleblower who revealed that Cambridge Analytica had illegally collected data from 87 million Facebook profiles.
It was later discovered that the data was used to model user behavior for political campaigns in the 2016 US Election, which was won by Donald Trump.
What about Musk?
Musk has also made headlines for his scandals, one of which was an allegation of sexual harassment.
A SpaceX flight attendant once reported a sexual harassment incident by Musk in 2018. The victim claimed the incident began when the boss summoned her to his office. Once inside, Musk allegedly made inappropriate advances, amounting to sexual harassment.
This case garnered attention because Musk had violated codes of conduct and protections for female employees, including freedom from harassment.
The case ended with Musk agreeing to a financial settlement, provided the victim promised not to pursue the case in court.
Another significant scandal was Musk's acquisition of X. Shortly after the acquisition, Musk fired no fewer than 6,000 employees.
Besides efficiency reasons, Musk cited activities deemed "unproductive," such as lounging, playing in the break room, or simply sitting in the office library, as reasons for the dismissals. Some employees who were fired even claimed they were shocked as their access to internal servers was cut off without any notice.
So, what's next in this ongoing feud? As of now, Zuckerberg and Musk continue their rivalry online. If neither backs down, a real fight in the ring might actually happen.
Oh boy, things could get messy if it comes to that, right?
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