Mark Zuckerberg reacts to memes calling him a robot on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast

‘The Senate testimony is not exactly an environment that is set up to accentuate the humanity of the subject’

Mark Zuckerberg laughed off Congress “robot” memes as he drank a glass of water for Joe Rogan to prove he is human.

The controversial podcast host teased the Meta CEO about how stiffly he had drunk a glass of water when he appeared before Congress in 2021, which sparked a string of memes about the billionaire.

“I don’t like the way you sip water though, you sipping water at the Senate, you were sipping water like a robot,” Rogan joked on the three-hour Spotify podcast, and asked Mr Zuckerberg to take a proper drink.

Mr Zuckerberg laughed and took a swig of water from a cup, before defending himself.

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

“If you’re up there for six or seven hours you’re going to make some face that is worth making a meme out of.”

Mr Zuckerberg appeared before Congress to answer questions from lawmakers about privacy trust and Cambridge Analytica.

Many of the memes compared Mr Zuckerberg to Star Trek’s Data character, played by actor Brent Spiner.

“If you had an off switch, Senator, would you not keep it secret?” said one meme, with a picture of Data’s face on Mr Zuckerberg’s body.