Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s long history of competition

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk have been sniping at each other for years. But their personal grudge match escalated dramatically on July 5 — when Zuckerberg launched the social media site Threads, also dubbed the “Twitter Killer.”

With looks and functions very similar to Musk’s Twitter, Threads amassed some 70 million followers in just a day.

Two days later, Musk’s lawyers sent Zuckerberg a cease-and-desist letter that expressed “serious concerns” about “systematic, willful and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property.” It even went so far as to accuse Zuckerberg’s Meta (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) of having violated state and federal laws.

Some aren’t surprised.

“Zuckerberg is no stranger to getting sued with accusations of having stolen stuff,” Ben Mezrich, author of “The Accidental Billionaires” — which details Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss accusing Zuckerberg of lifting their idea to create Facebook — told The Post. “Musk alienated employees; Zuckerberg hired some of them and launched something very much like Twitter. Musk is now going Winklevi on Zuckerberg.”

This all comes on the heels of Musk’s Twitter post from June 20, in which he said he’d be “up for a cage match” with Zuckerberg. One day later, Zuckerberg responded: “Send Me Location.”

Many thought it had to be a joke. But Musk is training with UFC pro Georges St. Pierre and Zuckerberg has already shown off his martial arts acumen by winning a pair medals (gold and silver) at his first ji-jitsu tournament — and his desire to emerge victorious.

“There is video of Mark winning two fights [in a series of MMA contests],” Nick Bilton, who’s interviewed both men and authored “Hatching Twitter,” told The Post. “The look on his face over losing one fight, which could have gone either way, is terrifying. Mark will take it seriously, eat raw eggs, train seven days a week and beat the s–t out of Elon.”

There’s more than one score to settle. According to Bilton the tech titans’ beef dates back to 2016.

“That was when Zuck had a satellite on one of Musk’s space ships and the space ship blew up,” Bilton said of the Falcon 9 launchpad explosion in Florida. “It was a [$200 million] satellite and Zuck was pissed. Elon [who lost a $62 million rocket] laughed it off. He did what he does.”

Musk embarrassed Zuckerberg a year later, when the Facebook CEO expressed being “really optimistic” about AI via a live video — which also showed him smoking meat in his backyard — on the platform.

Unimpressed, Musk tweeted: “I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.”

Mezrich, whose next book, “Breaking Twitter,” is about Musk’s 2022 takeover of the social media platform, believes there is real antipathy between Musk and Zuckerberg.

“They are both very different,” he said. “Elon is extremely competitive and needs to dominate the conversation. Mark has always been about dominating the world. His goal has been that everyone is on Facebook all the time. He is not motivated by money or by ideology, as Musk is.

“With Twitter, [Zuckerberg] sees Elon stepping into his world.”

Even back in 2018, years before he took over Twitter, Musk piled on top of a campaign that urged users to delete Facebook over privacy concerns. Two of Musk’s companies, SpaceX and Tesla, left the site.

In 2022, Musk tweeted, “Facebook gives me the willies.”

Sources believe the Silicon Valley battle might be rooted in Musk and Zuckerberg’s contrasting personalities.

“Zuck is methodical and likeable and robotic. He is a self-controlled human being, while Elon is an out-there lunatic — talking about doing ketamine and staying up all night and not owning a home,” Bilton sid. “They are two very distinct personalities. They will not hang out together and have a good time. Now there is animosity over a business opportunity.”

Mezrich agreed. “I don’t think they have a friendship. They are very different people. Elon is larger than life. Zuckerberg is not. Right now they dislike each other. At the moment, they are in battle.”

The latest accelerant of that battle — Zuckerberg’s launching of Threads — appears to have been done in a calculated way.

“I don’t think Mark would have launched Threads if Elon had not taken Twitter,” said Mezrich. “There was an opening given to [Zuckerberg]. Elon alienated celebrities and journalists and the things that made Twitter great. Now it looks like Twitter is spiraling down and this is the moment when something else can take its place.”

According to Bilton, “Mark Zuckerberg is … is the silent killer. He sees an opportunity and is going in for the kill.”

As for how Musk can neutralize Zuckerberg’s latest move, Bilton believes the Tesla and SpaceX founder has to first undo some of what he has done to weaken Twitter — including turning it from a company that he paid $44 billion for to one that, as of May 31, Fidelity valued at $15 billion.

“He should cut back on attacking people on Twitter,” Bilton said.

Among Musk’s zingeres: alleging that fellow billionaire George Soros, alleging that the fellow billionaire “hates humanity,” tweeting at Bernie Sanders “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive,” and posting a photo of a pot-bellied Bill Gates captioned: “In case you need to lose a boner fast.”

On June 20, with rumors of Threads percolating, Musk responded to a tweet from Dubai entrepreneur Mario Nawfal about the Twitter rival, saying, “I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options.”

But, Bilton predicted of Musk, “What he’ll probably do is double down and become more recalcitrant. It’s like he has a self-destruction button.”

But Bilton does not count Musk out if the cage match comes to be.

“Elon grew up doing street-fighting in South Africa and is in a totally different weight class,” he said. Musk, at six-foot-one is said to be six inches taller than Zuckerberg and to outweigh him by some 45 pounds.

Mezrich offers offer a strategy for Musk — both for a physical fight and a tech battle: “Elon’s best bet is to dive on top of Mark and take a shot at him really fast. He needs to do that in the ring and outside of the ring. The longer either thing lasts, Zuckerberg has an advantage.”