Elon Musk – Mark Zuckerberg: A feuding relationship for years.

After Twitter boss Elon Musk issued a “joking” challenge to Mark Zuckerberg, on the morning of June 22, Meta CEO responded and reminded his opponent to “submit a location.” Musk immediately retweeted in two words: Vegas Octagon.

The saga began on the evening of June 20, when Elon Musk commented on the upcoming launch of Meta Corporation Threads – the platform considered a rival to Twitter. He said this would leave the world “manipulated and controlled exclusively by Mark Zuckerberg.”

A Twitter user later joked with Musk that he should be careful because Zuckerberg is good at martial arts. In response, Musk wrote: “I’m ready for a fight with Zuckerberg if he agrees.”

The meeting was temporarily agreed to by both sides, after years of Wall Street’s 2 most popular platforms quietly competing for users. Zuckerberg saw an opportunity to attack Twitter, especially after the massive $44 billion deal.

It’s unclear if the two business moguls actually met in real life. Just know that this will increase the fierce competition for economic interests as well as the battle for market share of advertising on social networks.

Apparently, the bosses are preparing for an underground war. They have feuded for years, occasionally publicly criticizing AI or other topics.

The existence of Project 92 was first officially confirmed by Meta in March. The group emphasized that it is exploring an independent decentralized social network for sharing text updates. “We believe there is an opportunity for a bespoke space where creators and public figures can share timely updates on their interests,” Meta representatives revealed.

According to Chief Product Officer Chris Cox, the product was inspired by users who wanted a “healthier” social media platform, which here, is a reference to Elon Musk’s Twitter.

Since taking control of Twitter, the man has faced several challenges in re-establishing the company to his liking. Musk insists significant cost cuts, including the workforce, are needed to avoid bankruptcy.

Now, Twitter is on track to generate positive cash flow, even recruiting a well-known advertising executive as CEO to improve already frayed relationships.

The recent proposed match dates back to the early 1990s when Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines, settled a business dispute by wrestling his hands at the Dallas arena. However, unlike this time, the results were already arranged.

The tech duo’s public feud dates back to 2016 when rocket company SpaceX secured a contract to send satellites into space for Facebook to provide internet access to large areas of sub-Saharan Africa. However, an explosion soon afterwards shattered Zuckerberg’s ambitions.

“I am deeply disappointed to learn that the SpaceX incident destroyed our satellite, which should have helped so many entrepreneurs and users across the continent,” Zuckerberg said.

A year later, the two men continue to have opposing views on AI: one supportive, one that raises too many questions.

“Especially with AI, I’m very optimistic. Somehow there are people who oppose and… Try to make up doomsday scenarios. It’s negative, and in a way, pretty irresponsible,” Zuckerberg said.

In response, Musk tweeted: “I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.”

Musk has described AI as the scariest problem facing humans and said it needs to be regulated as soon as possible. Zuckerberg immediately dismissed these concerns.

“In the next 5 to 10 years, AI will provide a lot of improvements to our quality of life. One of the leading causes of death for humans is that car accidents remain, and if you can eliminate it with AI, that would be a significant improvement,” Zuckerberg said. “Technology in general can be good or bad and you need to be careful with this.”

In 2018, Facebook was involved in the Cambridge Analytica data leak scandal. Musk did not directly criticize the issue, but directly deleted the “million like” fanpages of SpaceX and Tesla. When WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton asked about Facebook, Musk replied, “What is Facebook?” In 2020, he also supported the campaign to delete Facebook on the social network.

Of course, there will still be times when 2 tech tycoons share the same view. That’s especially true considering the Meta-Twitter-Apple relationship.

Expressing his opinion on Apple, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg affirmed that Apple is holding too much influence on the mobile app ecosystem.

“Apple has positioned itself as the only company trying to control, such as unilaterally, what apps are on a device. I don’t think it’s a good or sustainable practice,” the Meta chief said at the New York Times Dealbook Summit in New York City.

Earlier, billionaire Elon Musk also accused Apple of preventing free speech, and said the tech giant had threatened to remove the social networking platform Twitter from the iPhone thanks to its monopoly status.