Mark Zuckerberg Marks 4th of July With Wakeboarding and John Denver, Sparking Mockery on Social Media

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared a video of himself wakeboarding to mark the Fourth of July, with John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” playing. In the video, the 37-year-old carried a giant U.S. flag as he navigated the waves of a lake. The video was widely mocked, with many suggesting that it is the perfect foundation for memes.

“Happy July 4th,” Zuckerberg wrote in the caption on Instagram and Facebook. On Facebook, Zuckerberg attempted to show a sense of humor by responding to some of the jokes people posted. “It’s a hydrofoil. There’s a wing under the water that I’m riding that pushes the board into the air,” Zuckerberg explained in one comment. “It’s a lot of fun. There’s an electric-powered version that you can get, but in this video, I’m riding a regular foil board and surfing a little wave.”

Some of Zuckerberg’s followers suggested he was celebrating more than just Independence Day. On June 28, a federal court dismissed the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust complaint against Facebook. A parallel case filed by 48 state attorneys general was also dismissed, reports CNBC. The lawsuit claimed Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively, were attempts to stop serious threats to its monopoly.

​

“We are pleased that today’s decisions recognize the defects in the government complaints against Facebook,” Facebook said in a statement last week. “We compete fairly every day to earn people’s time and attention and will continue to deliver great products for the people and businesses that use our services.”

​

The dismissal was not a complete victory for Facebook, though. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said it did not agree with all of Facebook’s arguments, but ruled in its favor because the FTC failed to prove Facebook has a social media monopoly in the U.S. The court also ruled that the FTC could continue to push Facebook to divest Instagram and WhatsApp, but can only succeed if it can also succeed in proving Facebook has a monopoly. Still, the fact that the state attorneys general lawsuit was completely dismissed means the FTC could have a tough road ahead.

​

Over on Twitter, the response to Zuckerberg’s wakeboarding video was even more critical. One person even edited the video to superimpose a Facebook logo onto the American flag. “Zuck crossing the Delaware,” the Twitter user joked.

​

“This is the stuff meme dreams are made of,” meme page Tank.Sinatra wrote on Instagram. “This is some meme materials,” another Instagram user wrote.

​

“Zuck really doing his part to make tech founders seem normal,” Box CEO Aaron Levie sarcastically wrote.

​

“In a world of out-of-touch tech billionaires, Zuck somehow manages to make himself look even more out of touch than the guy who wants indentured servitude on Mars,” one Twitter user wrote. The comment referred to remarks Elon Musk has made about colonizing Mars.