This wasn’t a controversy until Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, addressed it publicly and revealed it was so. Zuckerberg, who is usually an all-business kind of guy on his social media, broke character for once, to laugh at coverage of his now-viral July 4 wakesurfing video.
That video was meant as a patriotic gesture, but it backfired. On July 4, Zuckerberg posted footage of himself surfing on what was generally assumed to be an electric surfboard, presumably the Lift eFoil, which starts at $12,000. In the comments, Zuckerberg only said that you could ride the board both in electric and non-electric mode, just like you would a regular surfboard.
Now, he’s setting the record straight: that was not an electric surfboard, but a hydrofoil he was pumping with his own legs. He was wakesurfing and pumping, and he can attest that the latter part is “a full on cardio workout.” Just in case you were wondering how the reclusive CEO is able to stay in top shape.
“Look, it's one thing for the media to say false things about my work, but it's crossing the line to say I'm riding an electric surfboard when that video clearly shows a hydrofoil that I'm pumping with my own legs,” Zuckerberg writes.
He clearly means it as a joke, and he’s having fun in the comments as well. But the funniest part about his public statement – a very rare one, at it – is that it comes in response to a New York Times expose on the Facebook Project Amplify campaign. It was initiated by Facebook and saw Facebook-written stories, all of them positive, sent directly to users’ News Feeds as a means to help Zuckerberg and his company distance themselves from several scandals, including spreading fake news on elections and vaccines.
For what it’s worth, though, know this: Zuckerberg did not use an e-foil. It’s not that he can’t afford it or that they’re not fun, but rather that he’s all about pumping with his own legs.
Now, he’s setting the record straight: that was not an electric surfboard, but a hydrofoil he was pumping with his own legs. He was wakesurfing and pumping, and he can attest that the latter part is “a full on cardio workout.” Just in case you were wondering how the reclusive CEO is able to stay in top shape.
“Look, it's one thing for the media to say false things about my work, but it's crossing the line to say I'm riding an electric surfboard when that video clearly shows a hydrofoil that I'm pumping with my own legs,” Zuckerberg writes.
He clearly means it as a joke, and he’s having fun in the comments as well. But the funniest part about his public statement – a very rare one, at it – is that it comes in response to a New York Times expose on the Facebook Project Amplify campaign. It was initiated by Facebook and saw Facebook-written stories, all of them positive, sent directly to users’ News Feeds as a means to help Zuckerberg and his company distance themselves from several scandals, including spreading fake news on elections and vaccines.
For what it’s worth, though, know this: Zuckerberg did not use an e-foil. It’s not that he can’t afford it or that they’re not fun, but rather that he’s all about pumping with his own legs.