Speculation that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg could actually get in a ring and fight each other just won’t go away.
Musk’s Twitter thread last week, where he said he would be up for having a cage fight with Meta CEO Zuckerberg may be the real deal. It came about after rumors began circulating that Meta was creating a rival app to Twitter called “Threads.”
Musk commented that he was concerned that Metra already had several social media apps, tweeting, “I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options,” CTV News Canada is reporting.
If nothing else, it begs the question of why two men with a combined wealth of $340 billion would choose to step into the Octagon in Las Vegas just to bash each other’s brains into pulp. As The Guardian says, “If the tech bros’ fight challenge proves one thing, it’s that social media is an atrocious place to have any kind of discussion.”
You might expect the men who between them control Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, to have better sense, however, sarcasm is usually the first casualty of digital conversations: Musk even put a “lol” at the end of his initial response to the idea of a cage fight.
The Musk-Zuckerberg spat mainly shows how far social media has fallen from its original ideals. In 2010, Zuckerberg was named Time’s Person of the Year and praised for his efforts to “tame the howling mob and turn the lonely, antisocial world of random chance into a friendly world”.
Combat sports used in cage fighting include not just Zuck’s favored jiujitsu but also kickboxing, Muay Thai, wrestling, and boxing, so it looks like it may be a “no holds barred” kind of fight.
The big question now is “Who will win?” Musk is taller and heavier than Zuckerberg and does not have any mixed-martial-arts experience, so many people are speculating that Elen Musk will fall flat on his face.
Zuckerberg’s jiujitsu skills are well known, and Bloomberg reporter Ashlee Vance said he “takes this stuff pretty seriously” and “this could go badly.” Musk replied “Yeah that’s possible,” but concluded: “I think it might actually happen.”
_____________________________________________________
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
