Also:
Mark Zuckerberg's yacht didn't hear boat's call for help off Alaska coast, spokesperson says
So not better when you're required to listen for distress channel.
Zuckerberg faces questions over why superyacht reportedly declined to help stranded boat
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/09/zuckerberg-superyacht-boat-alaska
52 Comments
PoopSpiderman@lemmy.world · 90 pts · 17h
They always face questions, but never consequences…
DeathsEmbrace@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 17h
What about a 10 million dollar fee after they made billions of dollars?
Rhaedas@fedia.io · 13 pts · 17h
That's a pretty steep fine. Considering the captain will be the one to pay it, since the responsibility will shift to him. It certainly isn't coming out of Zuckerberg's pocket.
eatCasserole@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 16h
PoopSpiderman@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 17h
However will they survive?!?
FishFace@piefed.social · 5 pts · 13h
In a case like this where he wasn't there, to face consequences you would have to prove he actually instructed the ship's master to ignore distress calls. To establish that... you gotta ask questions.
sns@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 51 pts · 16h
The answer: He's an evil piece of shit.
Abyssian@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 15h
Stop to help and do what? He isn't a boat doctor who can fix their boat for them. And he can't let the poors on his superyacht, they'd sour the champagne.
Carl@anarchist.nexus · 20 pts · 15h
It depends on the nature of the emergency. If the boat isn’t in danger of sinking, (maybe a dead engine and only emergency power), the working vessel has to hold position near the distressed one so the coast guard (or whatever rescue operation gets dispatched) can find them easier.
Especially since emergency power is on batteries, which means the distress call is essentially on a timer. It’s the working vessel’s job to maintain visual contact with the distressed vessel, to act as a relay and ensure they can still be located even if the distressed vessel goes completely dark.
If the distressed ship is in imminent danger of sinking, then the working ship would potentially perform a rescue operation to get people off the sinking ship. It could be as simple as casting out life preservers for the occupants to be dragged over to the working ship. This is more of a judgement call, as the working ship won’t want to put themselves in danger of sinking too. So the nature of the rescue will depend on why the distressed ship is in distress. But regardless, the working ship wouldn’t just ignore it.
Abyssian@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 14h
It did tho. What are they going to do about it? Ask him questions? lol. They can fine him another $500 million and that and the last $500m for knowingly harming the mental health of kids would work out to about what he spent on that stupid Metaverse cartoon of himself.
wjrii@lemmy.world · 36 pts · 14h
So, basically, it starts to look like they have standing orders to be selfish and anti-social to point of pushing up against maritime law.
Mirshe@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 6h
Why wouldn't they? The investigatory agency for this is the USCG, and last I recall, the man in charge of Homeland Security and the rest of the US is pretty comfy with doing favors for his billionaire friends.
stoly@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 10h
I believe that by international law all vessels have to offer assistance to someone in distress.
M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 28 pts · 9h
That is why you have a captain to toss under the bus when rich enough.
stoly@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 9h
Ultimately the captain is responsible and should face consequences.
M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 11 pts · 9h
And this is the flaw, they pay them a lot to take the fall as part of the job. Plenty will do so with a smile on their faces and international law and decency suffers.
stoly@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 9h
Agreed, this is definitely what happened. There is probably also a sense of being able to do anything you like since your boss is rich.
M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 5 pts · 9h
Not just a sense, a very real ability. This might mean they can't captain a ship anymore, but unlikely to see any real punishment.
FrostyTheDoo@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 9h
Even without knowing the law in detail, I'm certain rich people have a (designed) loophole around it. He'll captain another ship if he wants to
M0oP0o@mander.xyz · 4 pts · 9h
The captain is not the rich guy here. These super yachts tend to get captains near the end of their career who know the deal. They get nice paychecks to do shit like this and then take the fall if needed, that is the loophole.
lookitsjustin@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 9h
You're correct about this. I was just looking it up myself.
There is indeed international maritime law governing vessels, and they must proceed with all possible haste to distress signals. Unfortunately, there are two problems here as I understand the situation:
Zuckerberg's yachtfucks apparently said that they noticed the distress signal eventually, but by the time they had, the Coast Guard had already arranged assistance for the skiff.
So, sadly, for those of us who want to see the billionaires get their comeuppances, I don't think we'll see it here.
switcheroo@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 14h
The reply? Because I didn't want the poors on my yacht.
He is a disgusting parasite PoS -- also an acceptable answer.
Janx@piefed.social · 24 pts · 16h
Because the personality disorder required to exploit enough people to become a billionaire causes them to lose their humanity and end up with no empathy?
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 15h
No. I don't believe this. The power causes the disorder. So, they start small, like Bezos, and Zuck, and Gates, but as they become more successful apathy increases. The two grow in tandem, and it can happen to anyone.
Have you not see this yourself? At work when someone is promoted from the ranks, and they change?
Power corrupts, and it corrupts anyone who gains it. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Janx@piefed.social · 6 pts · 14h
Sorry, I worded it poorly. I mostly agree with what you said. But I'm not talking about inheriting a billion dollars. To "earn" a billion dollars, you don't just exploit a few people, you create an entire system designed to exploit as many people as possible. And you have to ignore the inequality and harm you're causing the entire time you're building that giant fortune. It's a bit of a "chicken and egg" situation, but I imagine many times the disorder is already at least partially there...
Feathercrown@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 4h
I hope to one day gain an obscene amount of money and power just to dispel this stupid myth. People in positions of power who become bad people have a moral skill issue and the failure is on THEM, not some abstract boogeyman of corruption.
IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 16h
End up with no empathy? He had no empathy when he was just a gleam in daddies eye…
TheTechnician27@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 15h
Empathy is more complex than that, and it's influenced by a lot of factors, including environmental. Psychopaths are thought to have a physical brain condition that prevents them from feeling the social emotions, but sociopaths simply have a greatly diminished capacity for them.
njm1314@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 16h
Sink more yachts.
kylie_kraft@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 13h
This might actually be laser dolphins' big break
EntheoNaut@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 11h
There does need more direct action to remove these infectious criminals against humanity.
It’s gone too far. Things need to be done. ASAP.
Fishnoodle@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 12h
Like what kind of fucking trash do you have to be? It's a floating luxury palace, I'm sure it has a helicopter aboard it. He's in no rush, all the money in the world, and with the opportunity comes up to be a good person, he not only refused to help once, but repeatedly.
The captain should be stripped of their license and he should be unable to own or operate a boat within American waters. Better yet, make him pay 250 million to park it in a US harbor, and spring it on him with the boat has no choice but to dock and refuel in the US.
capt_wolf@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 10h
"but what if they get their poorness all over my boat!?"
PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 12h
His yacht has a dingy as you can see at the stern.
RidderSport@feddit.org · 3 pts · 4h
Yachts of this size not only have dinghys they have full-size motor yachts serving as tenders.
frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io · 9 pts · 16h
Americans have been ignoring boats in distress for a while now, particularly after we bomb them into distress. Expect more to come because boat owners and assholes overlap quite a bit.
Peppycito@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 16h
I take issue with that. Like any good stereotype it has a certain level of truth but the marine community that I know is very welcoming and helpful. Being a yacht owner and being a boater are quite different things and having a boat doesn't make you rich or an asshole.
Feathercrown@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 4h
Having a boat of any decent size is a very strong indicator that you're rich, or at least upper middle class. Even a fairly well-off family like mine would consider a boat to be a serious expense, and it's absolutely prohibitive for most of the population.
shweddy@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 15h
$5 says there were kids on his boat
I'll rescind this when the impartial 3rd party investigation says otherwise
Fishnoodle@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 12h
Exactly. The people running the government in the surveillance state shouldn't get the presumption of innocence.
They are public figures and not only that they have all of the resources to provide proof of any claims that they make.
MrRandom@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 14h
Illegal activities
billwashere@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 7h
Well it’s simple. Its because he’s a prick.
atlasraven@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 16h
Seize the yacht for a couple of months and then charge the dock fee.
RidderSport@feddit.org · 7 pts · 4h
As a sailor (the recreational kind and former Navy) I find this particularily vile. In my experience, all boats, whether large or small, cheap or expensive, recreational or commercial stop everything they are doing when there's a distress call vaguely in their vicinity. At the very least everyone is turning up their radio to monitor what is happening and having dedicated personell whatching the seas for the distraught vessel or event. It is espescially true if you have the equipment, the men power, the time and the money to spare going above and beyond.
In my oppinion aiding those in need at sea is the most basic and fundamental thing to do as a sailor. Those sailors that comply with orders not to help should never ever be allowed on a ship again. Despicable pieces of shit.
Bebopalouie@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 13h
Yuckerburg change his story today and said that they didn’t hear it. I read it in another article people from another boat not sure which one were booing them so they must have known ?
Redvenom@retrolemmy.com · 5 pts · 4h
ewwwwww poor people on the starboard side of the yacht
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 2h
why would a android, let an "organic lifeform" taint his "perfection.
ironpangolin29@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 16h
Probably for the same reason people ignore a beggar in the street.
Grass@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 8h
damn so much for my plans of using a distress signal to get close to him for non-nefarious reasons.
9point6@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 14h
Subhuman
theacharnian@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 1h
In Victorian times fiction like Jules Verne's novels and the like, rich yachtsmen saving the day is kind of a trope. What I'm trying to say is that the previous iteration of super rich fucks had some kind of heroic idea of themselves, some kind of noblesse oblige. These cunts are just cunts.