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News
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg feeds beer to his cows
Chief executive of Meta and founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has announced he is raising cattle at his ranch on a diet of macadamia nuts and beer, but was met with swift criticism of the move.
Writing on Instagram, Zuckerberg explained that he was undertaking the project at his Ko’olau Ranch on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.
View this post on Instagram
He added on the comment of the post, which showed him in front of an enormous steak, that his goal was “to create some of the highest quality beef in the world” and that the cattle being used are Wagyu and Angus breeds.
He wrote: “They’ll grow up eating macadamia meal and drinking beer that we grow and produce here on the ranch. We want the whole process to be local and vertically integrated. Each cow eats 5,000-10,000 pounds of food each year, so that’s a lot of acres of macadamia trees. My daughters help plant the mac trees and take care of our different animals.
“We’re still early in the journey and it’s fun improving on it every season. Of all my projects, this is the most delicious.”
But campaign group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) slammed the move telling him to “stick to technology”.
A comment on the post said: “This “project” is killing animals and the planet and traumatizing for your kids. There are so many other productive things to do, like creative innovative vegan foods that save animals, help the planet, and improve human health.”
Comments
At the time of writing, 10,000 other commentators have delivered their own verdicts, with some supporting PETA’s stanch and but others supporting the move.
One posted said “wait but don’t they get drunk from the beer?” and another said that it “looks incredible”.
Other posters said that the move was bad for the environment, with one stating that it was “an absolutely ridiculous waste of money, land, and resources”.
Another posted: “Keep destroying the environment. Raising cattle is one of the biggest causes of greenhouse gases. Such a disgusting and entitled thing to be doing”.
Yet another though said it “looks phenomenal”, and there were numerous comments on how delicious the steak looked.
The Instagram post also included a glass of wine, although it is unknown what Zuckerberg is drinking, db suggests it could be a Mo(o)uton Rothschild?
Blocking
The news follows Meta blocking posts for under-18s related to alcohol and tobacco in 2019 after trialling selective blocking of alcohol ads in 2017.
The move was welcomed at the time by Alcohol Research UK, which says social media is “saturated” with alcohol promotions and that advertising rules were not “fit for purpose”.