Mark Zuckerberg hadn’t tweeted since 2012, so when he made his return to the social media site on Wednesday, he made it count.
The Facebook founder posted a popular meme from the Spider-Man comics, featuring two identical people in the custome pointing at each other in accusation.
The post was widely interpreted as a joke about Zuckerberg’s company Instagram launching the app Threads on Wednesday, a Twitter-like service that will compete with Musk’s platform.
Threads, which launched on Wednesday in 100 countries, shares many of Twitter’s key features, allowing users to post text-based updates featuring up to 500 characters, along with photos and videos.
"Our vision is to take the best parts of Instagram and create a new experience for text, ideas, and discussing what’s on your mind," Zuckerberg said in an Instagram post on Wednesday. "I think the world needs this kind of friendly community, and I’m grateful to all of you who are part of Threads from day one."
The company has also said Threads will be interoperable with other social media sites, allowing people to post in other apps and follow updates from other platforms.
The taunting on social media is the latest public back-and-forth between Musk and Zuckerberg.
Last month, the Twitter owner joked about wanting to be in a “cage match” against the Facebook billionaire, a proposal which quickly seemed to become more than a joke.
“I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb,” Musk tweeted last month, adding, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.”
Zuckerberg responded to his tech rival, writing in a social media post of his own, “send me location.”
While speculation ran rampant about the fight, where it would be held, and who would win, some in the inner circles of both men cast doubt over whether it would occur.
"All this talk about going to the Colosseum for a cage match with Mark Zuckerberg, it’s more of a metaphor for his struggle with Meta and Zuckerberg — I don’t know if that will really happen, no," Musk biographer Walter Isaacson said earlier this week in a Twitter Spaces conversation.
"I’ve seen him eat, he’s doing that intermittent fasting," he added. "We go to the Palo Alto Creamery, when he can have his one meal, he orders a cheeseburger with bacon, a large sundae, sweet potato fries. He’s not in hyper training mode, I would say."
Maye Musk, the Tesla owner’s mother, also responded to a picture of Musk appearing to do martial arts training, writing on Twitter, “No! Hoping this is just for fun.”
