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Does Elon Musk blame Mark Zuckerberg for US Capitol riot? Tesla CEO takes dig at Facebook again with meme

In the latest of jabs in the feud between tech moguls Musk and Zuckerberg, the Tesla CEO directly blamed the social networking site. Taking to Twitter, Musk shared a meme that showed a man lining bricks up like dominoes

Elon Musk is no longer hiding it - he has made it evidently clear that he thinks that Facebook has a big role to play in the violent "insurrection" that took place on January 6, 2021. In the latest of jabs in the feud between tech moguls Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, the Tesla CEO directly blamed the social networking site. 

Taking to Twitter, Musk shared a meme that showed a man lining bricks up like dominoes. The smallest front brick was labeled "a website to rate women on campus" - referring to Facebook's original idea - and the largest tile in the back was superimposed with a tweet by The New York Times Magazine correspondent Mark Leibovich that read "The Capitol seems to be under the control of a man in a Viking hat."

“This is called the domino effect,” Musk tweeted alongside the meme.

Making a strong statement, Musk perhaps pointed to the site's potential for being a breeding ground for fake news, conspiracy theories, and years of polarization. On Wednesday night, Facebook removed an earlier released video of Trump spouting false claims of "stolen election", eventually blocking him from posting content for 24 hours, then extended it for at least two weeks. Twitter blocked Trump's account for 12 hours.

Was Facebook really complicit in facilitating a platform to MAGA fans for spreading their agenda? Perhaps. There has been a long list of allegations against the social media CEO that Facebook has been soft on Trump - even getting into trouble for being biased toward conservative media outlets. Additionally, it has also come to light that Facebook was a space for Trump supporters to not only use the site to share their ideologies but also coordinate attacks. Publicly viewable groups and events that contained itineraries of the attack were still up on Facebook on Wednesday night. "Absolutely shameful. Stop The Steal @Facebook events and groups are all still active," one shared alongside a screenshot of the list of events. 

Facebook's vice president of integrity Guy Rosen shared on Twitter that the company removed Trump's video "because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence". 

The Tesla CEO's critique of Zuckerberg and his practices doesn't come as a surprise though - this tussle has been around since at least 2016. On Wednesday, when news broke out that Zuckerberg-helmed WhatsApp had updated its privacy policy and terms of services making data-sharing with Facebook mandatory for all, Musk took to Twitter to share his reaction with a meme. "Ya don’t say. Reminds me of this timeless classic …," the tweet read alongside a meme depicting Facebook and its CEO knowing the most intricate details of its users. 

He also urged his followers to "use Signal", an encrypted messaging app that is run by a non-profit organization with a core focus on privacy. His tweet was retweeted by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, another tech executive who has previously sparred with Zuckerberg criticizing his argument that Facebook is an advocate for free speech.