Over the past four years, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have clashed over everything from artificial intelligence to rockets.
These two giants, one leading Tesla and SpaceX, the other owning Facebook, have never hidden their animosity. When a SpaceX rocket exploded in 2016 and destroyed a Facebook satellite, Zuckerberg posted a statement expressing his deep disappointment with SpaceX’s failure. Later, when Facebook was caught up in the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Musk publicly deleted the Facebook pages for Tesla and SpaceX, calling Facebook “disgusting.”
Both Musk and Zuckerberg are among the richest billionaires on the planet, so their disputes create a unique spectacle, even by Silicon Valley standards. Although both have interests in artificial intelligence and their companies have collaborated before, it seems Musk and Zuckerberg have never really gotten along.
Here are some of their most notable clashes:
The feud began in 2016 when a SpaceX rocket explosion destroyed a Facebook satellite
In September 2016, SpaceX tested its Falcon 9 rocket in Florida. Around 9 a.m., the rocket exploded, destroying Facebook’s AMOS-6 satellite, which was attached to the Falcon 9 and was on its way to orbit.
This satellite was part of Facebook’s Internet.org project aimed at bringing internet connectivity to developing countries and would have been Facebook’s first satellite in orbit.
Zuckerberg seemed deeply disappointed by the failure, writing on Facebook, “I’m deeply disappointed to hear that the failed SpaceX launch destroyed our satellite, which was expected to bring connectivity to many entrepreneurs and people across continents.”
Two years later, Musk responded in an interview:
“Yeah, I was the dumb one. We gave them a free launch to make up for it, and I’m sure they had insurance too.”
In 2017, Zuckerberg criticized Musk’s views on artificial intelligence
During a Facebook meeting, someone asked Zuckerberg what he thought about Musk’s fears that AI could be dangerous to people.
“I have a very strong opinion on this. It’s hard to understand why people oppose and imagine such scary scenarios. That’s really negative and, in some ways, I think it’s quite irresponsible.”
Musk, meanwhile, expressed concern about AI and fired back, “I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.”
In 2018, after Facebook’s data scandal, Musk publicly deleted Tesla and SpaceX Facebook pages
After WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton tweeted with the hashtag #deletefacebook saying, “It’s time to delete Facebook,” Musk immediately replied, “What’s Facebook?”
A fan asked Musk if he would delete SpaceX’s Facebook page, and Musk said, “I didn’t even know it existed. I’ll delete it now.”
When another fan pointed out Tesla also had a Facebook page, Musk replied, “That’s terrible.”
Shortly after, both SpaceX and Tesla’s Facebook pages disappeared.
In early 2020, Musk continued to take shots at Facebook
Responding to a tweet by Sacha Baron Cohen calling for more Facebook regulation, Musk once again publicly encouraged people to delete the app.
After the Capitol riot, Musk tweeted, “This is called the domino effect,” with an image of dominoes starting with “website rating women on campus,” referencing Facebook’s origins at Harvard, and ending with the rioters.
Musk also criticized Facebook’s data-sharing practices, calling the company “spies” for forcing users to share personal data.
Musk urged people to switch to the encrypted messaging app Signal. This post was also shared by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and other tech leaders who aren’t fans of Zuckerberg.
Source: BI
