Irish Examiner view: Billionaires’ bout
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It would be stretching credulity to say the proposed fight between Elon Musk of Twitter and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta is eagerly anticipated.
“Expected with mild indifference” would probably be a more accurate description. However, the two tech billionaires’ online version of “hold my coat” has an interesting backstory which will soon come to a head.
By any objective measurement, Musk’s stewardship of Twitter has been a disaster.
The company has lost two thirds of its value since he took it over, there have been technical problems with the site, and, in the last week, his decision to limit the ability to view tweets on the site was roundly condemned by users.
As a result, Zuckerberg’s company appears to have picked the right time to launch a new social media platform which is clearly designed to compete with Twitter.
Threads, which is a conversation-based app linked to Instagram, which is owned by Meta, launches today — although its release in the EU has been slightly delayed.
A Meta spokesperson said their company had “been hearing from creators and public figures who are interested in having a platform that is sanely run, that they believe that they can trust and rely upon for distribution”.
The comment drew a response from Musk — “Thank goodness they’re so sanely run.”
Any fight involving Musk and Zuckerberg is sure to attract an audience of some kind but it might be worth remembering that, if this bout ever occurs, it is clearly a stunt aimed at raising awareness of their business ventures. Perhaps people should consider whether they truly want to boost their sense of self-importance, not to mention their wealth.