Billionaire Elon Musk has again challenged Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg for a cage fight, accusing him of avoiding the clash. Mr Musk was responding to a post on X (formerly Twitter), the platform he owns. In his response, the world’s richest man accused Mr Zuckerberg of apparently not accepting the challenge. The tech leaders first sparked conversations about a potential MMA-style cage match in a series of back-and-forth messages on their platforms in June. However, Mr Musk later said he was joking about the entire thing.

But now, the X owner is back with a new post on the cage fight issue.

Why won’t he fight me!? Zuck said “name the place”, so I named his house, but they said he was away on travel.

Perhaps we can fight when we returns?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 6, 2023

A user had said that searching on Google for Mark Zuckerberg these days throws more UFC content than his actual podcasts.

“Why won’t he fight me!? Zuck said “name the place”, so I named his house, but they said he was away on travel. Perhaps we can fight when we returns?” Mr Musk said in response.

The post has been viewed more than 26,000 times and sparked a buzz among the users of the platform.

“You got him,” commented one user. “Is there a way to resolve this issue without violence? Perhaps you could talk to him or his representatives and see if you can come to an agreement,” said another.

“Zuck said that he don’t want to have a “friendly” match in his backyard. He wants to be serious,” a third user commented.

Also Read | Elon Musk Admits Joking About Cage-Fight With Mark Zuckerberg

The tech titans started creating buzz about the cage fight just before Meta announced a rival to Twitter.

The two men have clashed for years but a recent comment by a Meta executive suggesting that Twitter was not run “sanely” irked Mr Musk, eventually leading to the two men offering each other out for a cage fight.

The buzz has its genesis in the announcement made by Mr Zuckerberg in February about ‘Threads’ with “increased authenticity” and “security across services” – both digs at Twitter Blue.

An illustrative photograph showing the new Twitter logo rebranded as X (L) and the previous bird logo reflected in smartphone screens, July 27, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

A survey conducted recently by the journal Nature found that researchers are leaving the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), a place they used frequently to promote their work, interact with the larger scientific community, and share their insights.

In 2016, Emilia Jarochowska, a PhD candidate, reportedly joined X with to boost her career in palaeontology. It was a platform where she could connect with colleagues, look for job opportunities and share her work. But after Elon Musk took over the platform in late 2022, sweeping changes to the platform’s management marred opportunities.

The findings, published by Nature in an article, stated that there are several reasons for the exodus, starting with the direction in which the platform seems to be headed since the takeover. Together with rolling back rules on content moderation, doing away with the blue-tick verification system, shifting to a subscription model where paying members get extra privileges, limiting the number of tweets users can see, and changing the names and logo has caused discomfort and uncertainty, leading to scholars to avoid using the platform.

Also Read | Elon Musk wants to remove the block feature on X

The survey contacted 170,000 scientists who are or have been using the platform, of which nearly 9,200 responded. At least half of them reported that they have reduced the amount of time they spend on X in the last six months. At least 7% of respondents have stopped using it completely while some 46% have joined other social media platforms.

The platform also seems to have also accrued an increasing number of fake accounts, trolls, and hate speech since the change of ownership, the survey noted. The transition from a platform facilitating scientific discourse to one fostering controversy and misinformation has prompted a wave of migration to alternative social media platforms such as Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, and TikTok. 

Despite Mr. Musk’s claims to the contrary, a study revealed an increase in hate speech since his takeover

Also Read | Musk plans to change how news is shared on X

Ziga Malek, an environmental scientist at the Free University of Amsterdam, told Nature he started noticing the presence of far-right accounts espousing science denialism and racism that he had to keep blocking. “X has always been not so nice let’s say, but it is a mess right now,” he said.

Mastodon, established in 2016, has become a popular alternative to X after the takeover for its decentralised and open-access regulations. But the fragmented landscape resulting from a migration has posed challenges to science communication. Previously, X served as a ‘hub’ for scholars to access information through specific hashtags. But with a diaspora across multiple platforms, it has become challenging to say where researchers are congregating, hindering access to their insights.

The impact of these changes extends beyond personal connections. The sense of community fostered on X, particularly for marginalised groups like scientists of colour and female researchers, has been a driving force in addressing issues such as harassment, unequal pay, and inequity. It provided a platform for scientists to collaborate, discuss research fraud, and spotlight topics like scientific colonialism and diversity, the Nature article said.

Also Read | The problem with X? Meta, Microsoft, hundreds more own trademarks to new Twitter name

One change, introduced in February, was the closure of the platform’s application programming interface (API), which allowed scientists to observe how users interacted with one another on the platform. This would feed studies of how people were discussing climate change, how people with autism were making their voices heard, and the platform’s response to the Ukraine-Russia conflict, etc. Research on such topics has suffered a blow ever since access to API was revoked for the general public. 

According to the survey, LinkedIn was the second most popular place to open new accounts followed by Instagram and finally Threads, both of which are owned by Meta.

Even as some scientists feel that with the changing paradigm of X, the sense of community is slipping away, others are sure researchers will come up with unique ways to overcome the challenge. Ms. Jarochowska suggested webinars and other methods of networking might be more fruitful to promote scientific work. “If you appear with your scientific content between videos of cats,” she told Nature, “it’s not a particularly good medium for promotion yourself professionally, anyway.”

Mark Carrigan, a digital sociologist at the Manchester Institute for Education, U.K., said that the void left behind by X can be used to diversify science and democratise academia.