Alex Wang fake-out: viral rumor that Meta's AI chief is 'out' is debunked by Zuckerberg
Mar 10, 2026
Key Points
- A viral rumor that Meta's AI chief Alex Wang was pushed out is false, confirmed by Zuckerberg posting a photo with Wang on Threads.
- Zuckerberg's choice to post the rebuttal on Threads meant most people missed the original X drama entirely, turning the correction into its own confusion.
- Wang remains at Meta.
Summary
A viral rumor that Alex Wang had been pushed out of Meta's AI organization was debunked by Mark Zuckerberg, who posted a photo with Wang on Threads. Because Zuckerberg chose Threads over X, almost nobody who saw the post knew what it was about. Threads users, having missed the X drama entirely, responded with confusion. One commenter thought Wang was the CEO of Cluely, an AI cheating app. Another guessed he was Alexander Wang, the fashion designer who faced separate sexual assault allegations. Someone tried asking Grok to identify the person in the photo and got no result. Roy Lee, the actual Cluely CEO, then deepened the confusion by posting that he had a great time "boying it up with the big Zuck." The original rumor spread through an aggregated post that was later deleted by the account that amplified it. New York Times reporter Mike Isaac posted a clarification explaining what had actually happened. Wang remains at Meta.