Mark Zuckerberg’s Joe Rogan Chat: Biggest Revelations

• Mark Zuckerberg appeared on Joe Rogan’s show last week in a 3-hour segment.
• The two discussed the metaverse, exercise habits, and those jokes about Zuckerberg being a robot.
• Zuckerberg also said the FBI warned him to be on-guard for polarizing content before the 2020 election.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg might be known for his stiff public speaking skills, but he let his hair down a bit last week on podcaster Joe Rogan’s show.

In a nearly 3-hour segment on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Zuckerberg covered a lot of ground, from his company’s plans in the metaverse to Elon Musk’s brain chip company to his work relationship with his wife Priscilla Chan.

Insider listened to the show in its entirety. Here are the biggest moments:

The FBI warned Facebook about polarizing content leading up to the 2020 election

Rogan asked Zuckerberg about the late 2020 New York Post story about Joe Biden’s son and how the company handled the article’s reach online. Zuckerberg said the FBI had already approached Facebook with a warning to be on the lookout for such controversial content, especially since Russian propaganda played a role on the platform around the 2016 election.

Zuckerberg said the agency, which he called a “legitimate institution” and “very professional law enforcement,” didn’t warn them about that article specifically but that it “fit the pattern.”

Zuckerberg gave up running as exercise because it was easy to overthink

The executive said he values exercise every morning because checking his phone feels like he’s being “punched in the gut.” And while he used to jog often, he stopped because “the problem with running is you can think a lot.”

Now he does mixed martial arts as a pre-work activity.

Zuckerberg said people don’t want Elon Musk’s brain chips in their heads

He told Rogan that “normal people” won’t want brain implants like the one Neuralink is developing for at least a decade.

“Normal people I think in the next 10 or 15 years are probably not going to want to get something just installed in their brain for fun,” Zuckerberg said.

The CEO admitted that Meta’s smart glasses privacy is hackable

Rogan asked Zuckerberg if a “creep” could just put a piece of tape over the light that flashes when the smart glasses, which the company unveiled in September 2021 via a partnership with Ray Ban, are recording.

The executive said, “I guess, in theory.”

It’s hard to be on Twitter without getting upset, he said

Zuckerberg said it’s difficult to spend time on Twitter, while being on Instagram is much more positive. He attributed it partly to the design of the two platforms, one of which is more photo-centric.

“I think images are a little less cutting usually, and kind of critical, than text,” he said. 

Zuckerberg said working with his wife opened up their relationship

The two married in 2012 and now work together on their philanthropic project, The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

“It’s been really cool getting the chance to work with my wife Priscilla on this, it’s opened up a whole new side of our relationship, where it’s like we were partners and now we also get to work together,” Zuckerberg told Rogan.

Zuckerberg referenced all those jokes about him being a robot

Rogan playfully broached the topic about him “sipping water like a robot” after photos of him doing so at an early 2018 Congressional hearing went viral.

“The Senate testimony is not exactly an environment that is set up to accentuate the humanity of the subject,” Zuckerberg responded.