Fact Check

Did Musk Tweet About Zuckerberg, 'I Propose a Literal Dick-Measuring Contest'?

Talk of a cage match fight between Twitter owner Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg led to some interesting tweets, to say the least.

Published Jul 10, 2023

This combination of file photographs shows Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who are in a fierce business rivalry that has spilt over into a playground spat, with the two men offering to fight each other in a cage. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD, ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) (ALAIN JOCARD, ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Image Via ALAIN JOCARD, ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
Claim:
Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, "Zuck is a cuck," then later added, "I propose a literal dick-measuring contest."

With talk of a cage match brewing between Twitter owner Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it would come as no surprise that the two tech giants might engage in a bit of smack talk. However, we're not sure if anyone predicted Musk tweeting, "I propose a literal dick measuring contest," a tweet that ended with an emoji of a straight ruler.

Whether joking or not, this was a real tweet posted by Musk from his official @elonmusk Twitter account on July 9, 2023. The tweet was a response to an earlier tweet also from Musk that read, "Zuck is a cuck."

Since we know that not all users are familiar with the definitions of every word used on social media, here are the ways that Merriam-Webster.com described the word "cuck":

1: a man whose wife is unfaithful : CUCKOLD

2: (informal, disparaging + often offensive) : a weak or submissive man —often used as an insulting and contemptuous term for a man who has politically progressive or moderate views

To give an idea of how unexpected the "dick-measuring contest" tweet was to some users, we'll turn to a tweet from a popular Musk parody account, @ElonMuskAOC. The user behind the parody account tweeted about the "Zuck is a cuck" and "dick-measuring contest" tweets, "At this point, I can't keep track of which account I'm tweeting from," a joke that implied Musk himself was in control of the parody account.

Musk even replied to the parody tweet from his official account, adding, "Same."

For more details about the possibility of a cage match between Musk and Zuckerberg, we recommend our previous fact check that looked at whether Zuckerberg had tweeted to Musk, "Speaking of cheating, you had an affair with Sergey Brin's wife last year."

Sources

"📏 Straight Ruler Emoji." Emojipedia, https://emojipedia.org/straight-ruler/.

Definition of CUCK. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cuck.

Liles, Jordan. "Did Zuckerberg Tweet to Musk, 'Speaking of Cheating, You Had an Affair with Sergey Brin's Wife'?" Snopes, 7 July 2023, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/zuckerberg-musk-cheating-tweet/.

Mac, Ryan, and Mike Isaac. "A 'Cage Match' Between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg May Be No Joke." The New York Times, 1 July 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/technology/elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-cage-match.html.

Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016.

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