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Rumors of businessman Elon Musk purchasing Facebook from his rival Mark Zuckerberg circulated on social media after an alleged post from Musk went viral on X. The post, uploaded on August 5, 2024, said:
"Be honest! Do you think I should buy Facebook and make it better? A. Yes B. No," the tweet read.
However, the post was deemed fake because it was posted by a parody account, as mentioned in its username: "Elon Musk - Parody." Musk's real X account has the 'X' symbol next to his username, along with his handle @elonmusk, as opposed to the parody account's handle @meelonmuskusa.
Furthermore, no credible news outlet has reported on Elon Musk's alleged talks of wanting to purchase Facebook from Zuckerberg.
Other fake posts about Elon Musk purchasing Facebook
This is not the first time Elon Musk has been associated with buying Facebook. According to USA Today, a video of Musk allegedly saying he would buy Meta from Mark Zuckerberg made the rounds on social media in December 2022. In the now-deleted video, Musk can be heard saying:
"I predict that tomorrow I will buy the entire Meta company. Facebook and Instagram will be mine too."
However, the video was proved to be doctored by an app that digitally rendered videos of celebrities. The original video was from Musk's interview with Chris Anderson, the head of TED Talks, in April 2022, where the Tesla CEO did not mention Meta.
A closer look into the doctored video showed signs of digital alteration on Musk's face to match the fabricated words. The rumor was also fact-checked and debunked by Reuters.
Elon Musk's history with Mark Zuckerberg
While Elon Musk has not expressed any interest in buying Facebook, he has often clashed with its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. The rivalry between the two first notably began in 2016, after one of Musk's SpaceX rockets exploded and destroyed a Facebook satellite. Zuckerberg took to Facebook to express he was "deeply disappointed" at the turn of events.
The two also disagreed on their views about artificial intelligence in 2017. In 2018, Musk deleted the Facebook pages of all his companies following the social media platform's Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Their feud became highly publicized after Musk bought Twitter and rebranded it to X in April 2022, and Zuckerberg responded by launching X's rival Threads in July 2023. On June 20, 2023, Musk contested Zuckerberg to a "cage match."
The two have exchanged quips about the fight many times, with Zuckerberg accusing Musk of not being serious about their cage match. According to TMZ, Musk claimed he was ready "any place, anywhere" when he appeared on Joe Rogan's podcast in October 2023.
"[Zuckerberg] accused me of not being serious, and I said, ‘Listen, at the end of the day, I’ll fight you any place, anywhere, under any rules,’” he said.
In November 2023, Musk responded to a post that alleged he was willing to pay Zuckerberg $1 billion if he changed Facebook's name to "Faceb**b," claiming it to be a "much better name."
Elon Musk reignited talks of a fight in July 2024, reiterating that he was ready to take on Zuckerberg "any place, any time, any rules." No physical blows between the two have been traded yet at the time of writing this article.
