Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have a complicated history. In 2023, the two vowed to fight each other in a cage match, which never happened. But by early 2025, when the two were cozying up to President-elect Donald Trump, they apparently had a more friendly relationship.
In February of that year, Zuckerberg sent Musk an approving message about his work with the now-defunct Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). “DOGE seems to be making progress,” the Meta CEO tweeted. “I’ve put my teams on alert to remove content that is doxxing or threatening people on your team. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.”
The texts published Friday in court documents as part of Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI are dated February 3, 2025. This comes just weeks after Zuckerberg announced Meta’s pivot away from content moderation in favor of “free expression.” This is the same day a US attorney said he would protect DOGE employees from “disgruntled” critics.
Musk responded to Zuckerberg’s message heartily and followed up with an unrelated topic: OpenAI. He asked Zuckerberg if he would be “open to the idea of bidding on the OpenAI IP with me and a few others.” Zuckerberg asked to “discuss this live” and Musk said he would call the next day. Previous documents revealed in the case show that Musk invited Zuckerberg to help buy OpenAI, although he never officially signed off on the bid.
In a separate filing made public Friday, Musk’s lawyers argued that his exchange with the Meta CEO should be excluded from the lawsuit. “Musk’s personal relationships and communications – including with other high-profile individuals – are also material and prejudicial,” they wrote. “Defendants included in their exhibit for trial, for example, numerous private exchanges between Musk and Mark Zuckerberg discussing Musk’s political activity and this lawsuit. Those recent communications have nothing to do with Musk’s claims and are nothing more than defendants’ attempt to stoke negative sentiments toward Musk because of his association with Zuckerberg.”
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.
In the same filing, Musk’s lawyers also take issue with Altman’s lawyers asking about Musk’s alleged ketamine use and his attendance at Burning Man. A transcript of a video statement with Musk indicates that he was asked if he took a “rhino cat” to Burning Man in 2017. According to the transcript, Musk said no.
“Any implication that concerts or drugs have any relevance to this case is ludicrous, and how Musk spends his free time is equally irrelevant,” his lawyers wrote. Earlier this month a judge ruled that OpenAI’s lawyers would be allowed to ask “limited” questions about Burning Man, but not about ketamine.
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