Susan Walsh/AP; Erin Scott/Reuters
- There's no love lost between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
- The billionaire tech CEOs — who helm Tesla and SpaceX, and Facebook, respectively — have been feuding since at least 2016, when a SpaceX rocket explosion destroyed a Facebook satellite.
- Since then, they've butted heads over everything from artificial intelligence to Facebook's data-collection practices.
- Most recently, Musk tied Facebook to the violent insurrection in Washington, DC, describing it as a "domino effect."
For over four years, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have clashed over everything from artificial intelligence to rockets.
The two moguls - who helm Tesla and SpaceX, and Facebook, respectively - haven't exactly kept their rivalry a secret. When a SpaceX rocket explosion destroyed a Facebook satellite in 2016, Zuckerberg issued a heated statement saying he was "deeply disappointed" about SpaceX's failure. And when Facebook became embroiled in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Musk publicly deleted his companies' Facebook pages, tweeting that the company gives him "the willies."
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The two billionaires are among the richest people on the planet, placing them in an elite circle, even by Silicon Valley standards. Despite the fact that they both dabble in artificial intelligence and their companies have partnered in the past, it seems that there's no love lost between Musk and Zuckerberg.
Here's where their feud began and everything that's happened since.
The Musk-Zuckerberg feud dates back to at least 2016, when a SpaceX rocket explosion destroyed a Facebook satellite.
An explosion on the launch site of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in 2016.
Launch Report/Handout via REUTERS
In September 2016, SpaceX was testing its Falcon 9 rocket at a launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Shortly after 9 a.m. the rocket exploded, destroying Facebook's AMOS-6 satellite, which was supposed to ride the rocket into space.
The satellite was part of Facebook's Internet.org project to deliver internet connectivity to the developing world and would have been Facebook's first satellite in orbit.
Zuckerberg seemed openly frustrated that the launch failed, writing on Facebook that he was "deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent."
Two years later, Musk addressed the failed launch in a tweet to reporter Kerry Flynn.
"Yeah, my fault for being an idiot," Musk said. "We did give them a free launch to make up for it and I think they had some insurance."
In 2017, Zuckerberg criticized Musk's feelings about artificial intelligence, comments that seemed to get a rise out of Musk.
Mark Zuckerberg.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
During a Facebook Live broadcast, a viewer asked Zuckerberg for his thoughts on Musk's anxieties around AI.
"I have pretty strong opinions on this," Zuckerberg said. "With AI especially, I'm really optimistic, and I think that people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios ... I don't understand it. It's really negative, and in some ways, I actually think it's pretty irresponsible."
Musk, who has repeatedly called for regulation and caution when it comes to new AI technology, shot back on Twitter.
"I've talked to Mark about this," he said in response to a tweet about Zuckerberg's comments. "His understanding of the subject is limited."
In 2018, following Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal, Musk made a public show of deleting SpaceX and Tesla's Facebook pages.
Elon Musk.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
After WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton tweeted, "It is time. #deletefacebook," Musk responded, "What's Facebook?"
A fan responded to Musk's tweet asking if he would delete the SpaceX Facebook page, to which Musk responded, "I didn't realize there was one. Will do."
After another fan pointed out that Tesla had a Facebook page too, Musk tweeted that it "looks lame anyway."
Soon after, both the SpaceX and Tesla pages disappeared from Facebook, but Musk said it wasn't a "political statement," he just finds Facebook unsettling.
Musk continued his campaign against Facebook in early 2020.
Mark Zuckerberg.
Andrew Harnik/AP
In response to a tweet from the actor Sacha Baron Cohen, which called for more regulation of Facebook, Musk urged people once again to delete the app.
Following the riots at the US Capitol, Musk took to Twitter to share memes linking the riots to Facebook.
Elon Musk.
Maja Hitij/Getty Images
On the evening of the rampage in Washington, Musk tweeted "This is called the domino effect" along with an image of dominoes, with the first one labeled "a website to rate women on campus," a reference to Facebook's inception at Harvard University. The last domino was about the rioters.
Musk also criticized Facebook's data-sharing practices, tweeting another meme about Facebook that mentioned the company "spying" on users following the announcement by Facebook-owned WhatsApp that it would start forcing users to share their personal data with Facebook.
Musk tweeted that people should "use Signal," an encrypted messaging app. His tweet was retweeted by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, another tech executive who has sparred with Zuckerberg.