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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has denied claims that his $300 million yacht ignored a distress call from a nearby vessel that was stranded in Alaskan waters.
It's been reported that a 21-foot skiff ran out of fuel between Juneau and Petersburg, in the vicinity of where Zuckerberg's mega-yacht on August 3.
However, when the boat got into trouble, it was rescued by a much smaller ship.
Now, Zuckerberg's representatives have spoken out against the allegations.
Representatives of the billionaire said that he was not onboard the craft, called The Launchpad, at the time of the incident.
Zuckerberg's spokesperson Brian Baker said that the distress call made from the skiff was broadcast on a different radio channel to the one being used on the Launchpad at the time it ran out of fuel.
He added that by the time the Launchpad's crew had seen the broadcast, another boat was already responding and on its way to help.
The skiff was eventually rescued by the Wilderness Legacy, a cruise ship operated by UnCruise Adventures.
A litter to the Alaska Beacon from Baker read: "Mark and his family were not on board at the time of the incident.
"As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway. We’re grateful all parties are safe."
However, it may not be as clear-cut a situation as it seems.
Reporting by the International News says that a user on the social media app Bluesky claimed to have been on the cruise ship Wilderness Legacy at the time it came to the aid of the skiff.
The user, called Michael Love, claimed that "our boat rescued a stranded vessel last night and apparently we did that after the Coast Guard radioed Mark Zuckerberg’s yacht, which was closer, and they repeatedly refused to respond."
According to the Alaska Beacon, vessel-tracking data showed the cruise ship had manoeuvred around the yacht before towing the skiff to Farragut Bay.
Meta boss Zuckerberg originally purchased the Launchpad for $300 million in 2024.
This was a source of aggravation for some critics, especially given Zuckerberg's staunch advocacy for climate change.
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Facebook has revealed the reason behind its chaotic six-hour crash on Monday.
On October 4, social media users were forced to turn to Twitter after Facebook - along with the company's other platforms Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp - all went offline.
From approximately 11:30AM to 5:30PM (EST), users were left unable to post, like, comment, share, message, or refresh their newsfeeds - leaving many people stuck for something to do while on the toilet.
The outage quickly became an online joke, and with people flooding to Twitter for some social interaction, we were treated to tweets like this:
And this:
Fortunately, once Facebook had sorted its issues, they were able to provide a reasoning behind the outage with its users. Writing in a blog post on Monday evening, officials for the company stated that the mass blackout was caused by a "faulty configuration change".
The post - titled 'Update about the October 4th outage' - read:
"Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication.
"This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt."
The post also stressed that no "user data was compromised" during the outage, and added: "We apologize to all those affected, and we’re working to understand more about what happened today so we can continue to make our infrastructure more resilient."
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, also issued an apology for the "disruption", writing in a post of his own:
"Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now. Sorry for the disruption today -- I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about."
With the outage in our rearview mirrors, I guess the only thing left to do is enjoy these memes of the Facebook outage (no surprise, they're all from Twitter):
That reminds me, I better reactivate my Bebo account... just in case.
Cast your minds back to July 2020. It's safe to say that in the midst of a global pandemic and with people so vehemently divided on everything, the world wasn't much of a fun place.
But there is one person who gave us all a good chuckle; Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Last summer, the billionaire social media mogul left all of his Facebook friends baffled when he was photographed wearing a comical amount of sunscreen while surfing in Hawaii.
Looking like Robin Williams in that cake scene from Mrs. Doubtfire, the 36-year-old became an instant meme. Ironically, that much sunscreen couldn't stop him from getting... burned.
But now, Zucks has finally provided an explanation for his Joker-like look, and we'll leave it up to you to decide if it was a good idea or not.
Speaking with Instagram head Adam Mosseri in an Instagram Live chat, Zuckerberg explained that, yes, as a pale-skinned person, sunblock is important. But then Mark shared his other motive:
"I really should have thought that one through more. I noticed there was this paparazzi guy following us and, so I was like, 'Oh I don't want him to recognize me so you know what I'm gonna do? I'm just gonna put a ton of sunscreen on my face.'
"And that backfired."
It certainly did, Mark. It certainly did.
Yes, unsurprisingly, the world was still able to recognize the multimillionaire and founder of the largest social media platform in the world - and he soon became an iconic meme:
Taking everything in good spirits, Zuckerberg later added: "The delta between how cool you think you look and the worst photo a paparazzi can take is pretty funny."
"If someone wants to post a sunscreen meme, it’s cool. I’m happy to give the internet some laughs," he said.
It's not the first time the Facebook founder has been aware of himself, as back in 2014, Zuckerberg admitted in a live Q&A: "My goal was never really to make Facebook cool. I am not a cool person. And I’ve never really tried to be cool."
Mark Zuckerberg decided to celebrate Independence Day in style by riding an electric surfboard while holding a US flag.
The Facebook founder, 37, was filmed taking a hydrofoil board across a scenic stretch of water with the stars and stripes fluttering in the breeze behind him.
He even chose a suitably American soundtrack for the footage, playing John Denver's 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' in the background.
The billionaire shared his 4th of July celebration on Instagram, and it wasn't long before the 71-second clip went viral, receiving 1.9 million views on that platform alone as well as thousands of comments.
In fact, it's become an instant meme, and naturally, people had some funny reactions.
Taking to Twitter to react, historian Greg Jenner wrote: "Do billionaires become incredibly weird because of the money, or do they become billionaires because they're incredibly weird? Because what the hell is this?"
A second added: "Someone told Mark Zuckerberg to act totally normal for July 4th."
A third joked: "I wish they could bring John Denver back to life just so he could sue Mark Zuckerberg for this."
A fourth wrote: "Here is Mark Zuckerberg proving he's not just richer than you, he's more patriotic."
Others used the footage to criticize the Facebook founder in a more targeted way.
A second chimed: "Mark Zuckerberg going all out on Independence Day. His PR image has taking a new twist lately."
Meanwhile, a seventh Twitter user joked that the footage will unite all Americans.
They wrote: "Americans finally found a source of unity, with left and right alike cringing after Mark Zuckerberg posted an Independence Day video of himself holding a US flag."
Metro reports that Zuckerberg is using a particularly expensive surfboard in the viral video - a Lift eFoil.
It can function as a regular surfboard or a hydrofoil on a flat stretch of water and can reach speeds of up to 30mph - all for the price of $12,000, which, admittedly, is nothing to a billionaire.
The family of Mike Lynch has released a statement following the loss of the tragic sinking of his superyacht.
The 160-foot luxury yacht, named the Bayesian, was caught in a violent storm, leading to its capsizing in the waters near Italy.
The incident unfolded during the early hours of Monday morning, as the yacht - carrying 22 people (12 passengers and 10 crew members) - was hit by a sudden and devastating waterspout tornado.
According to Italian media, the powerful winds from the tornado snapped the yacht's single mast, causing it to lose balance and ultimately capsize.
The Italian Coast Guard and local authorities launched an immediate rescue operation, managing to save 15 people, per Sky News.
Tragically, seven people have been confirmed to have died, including British billionaire Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah Lynch.
The Lynch family have since released a photo of Hannah and her father.
In a statement cited by the BBC, a family spokesperson expressed their devastation: "The Lynch family is devastated, in shock, and is being comforted and supported by family and friends. Their thoughts are with everyone affected by the tragedy.
"They would like to sincerely thank the Italian coastguard, emergency services, and all those who helped in the rescue. Their one request now is that their privacy be respected at this time of unspeakable grief."
Among the survivors are Hannah’s mother, Angela Bacares, and a one-year-old child.
However, the tragedy claimed the lives of five others, including Morgan Stanley International Bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy Bloomer.
Also amongst the deceased were Chris Morvillo, his wife Neda Morvillo, and the yacht's chef Recaldo Thomas.
Following the recovery of the final body, a coastguard vessel was seen returning to port, while divers on the quayside removed their gear.
The Italian Coast Guard stated that raising the sunken yacht from the seabed is "not on the agenda" at this time but may be considered in the future.
Divers noted that the ship remains "practically intact" on the seabed.
Hannah was a former pupil of Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, London.
A spokesperson for the school expressed their shock and offered condolences: "We are all incredibly shocked by the news. Our thoughts are with their family and everyone involved."
As the final body was recovered, reports in the Italian media suggested that prosecutors might soon announce a manslaughter investigation related to the incident.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Termini Imerese, led by Ambrogio Cartosio, is reportedly investigating the shipwreck and multiple counts of culpable manslaughter, according to The Mirror.
Our thoughts are with those affected by this tragedy.
Even the billionaire founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, can suffer a sunscreen faux pas.
Over the weekend, photos emerged and quickly went viral of Zuckerberg surfing in Hawaii, probably not too far from his $100 million estate. Hilariously, he was sporting way too much sunscreen on his face.
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People were quick to point out that he resembled a great number of film characters, and some very funny memes ensued.
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The people of Twitter promptly compared Zuckerberg's sunscreen-laden face to Batman's the Joker, with some even pointing out that in an old episode of the Batman television series, the Joker (played by Cesar Romero) went surfing.
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