Shark Tank billionaire Mark Cuban and X owner Elon Musk have exchanged sharp words following Cuban’s accusations that Musk manipulated the micro blogging site’s algorithm to favor his personal preferences, aiming to influence political discourse ahead of the elections. This exchange unfolded after Cuban discussed Musk’s influence on X, formerly known as Twitter, during an interview on Comedy Central‘s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
During the interview, Cuban claimed that since acquiring X in 2022, Musk has altered the platform’s algorithms to favor right-leaning profiles. “When you go on X, you see a preponderance of right-leaning people,” Cuban remarked, suggesting that Musk’s personal biases might be shaping the content users see.
Stewart echoed Cuban’s sentiment, sharing his own experiences of encountering such profiles on the platform. “I’ve never clicked on any of these f****** things,” Stewart said, expressing frustration with the content surfacing in his feed. Cuban responded by explaining the nature of algorithms, indicating that those in control of the algorithm set the parameters to reflect their desired outcomes.

The tension escalated when a video clip of Cuban’s comments was shared on X by a user with the handle @WesternLensman. Musk quickly responded saying, “That was hilarious laughing emoji.” He defending X’s algorithm, saying, “Unlike the other platforms, our algorithm is open source!”

Musk explained that user interactions heavily influence what appears on their feed, saying, “And if you interact and argue with ‘right wing’ accounts, which Cuban does a lot, the algorithm will assume that’s what you want to do and give you more of it lmao.”
Musk then took a more personal jab at Cuban in response to another comment suggesting that X “must be attacked and destroyed.” Musk replied, “exactly,” but added a disparaging remark, calling Cuban a “giant [poop emoji] in human form.

Cuban responded to Musk’s remarks with three heart-hand emojis, avoiding a direct verbal reply.

This confrontation is the latest in a series of public disagreements between Cuban and Musk, who have previously clashed on topics including freedom of speech and the dissemination of information on social media platforms. Cuban, who has openly supported Democratic candidates, continues to criticize Musk, who has publicly endorsed Donald Trump.