Did Zuckerberg's boat ignore an SOS? Not exactly.

A yacht owned by Meta billionaire Mark Zuckerberg ‘ignored’ a call for help from a skiff that ran out of fuel off the coast of Alaska.

That's the story making headlines around the world. 

However, a spokesperson for Zuckerberg has confirmed the crew didn't immediately hear the radio call for help and by the time it did, another nearby ship had already rendered assistance.

The incident happened last week, but gained attention in recent days after a passenger posted on social media that the captain had said Zuckerberg's yacht "refused" to respond.

According to several reports, The U.S. Coast Guard said the 21-foot Hewescraft vessel first hailed it for assistance at approximately 9:32 p.m., using a radio frequency all boats are expected to monitor. About 25 minutes later, the Coast Guard determined the vessel was not in distress and issued an assistance request. 

The skiff was able to make it safely to Farragut Bay after the Wilderness Legacy cruise ship towed it there, and helped it refuel.

Zuckerberg and his family were not on the 387-foot Launchpad yacht when the incident occurred, a spokesperson confirmed.

"As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway. We're grateful all parties are safe," Zuckerberg's spokesman Brian Baker said.

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Zuckerberg outed by… social media

The Alaska Beacon first reported on what happened after Michael Love, who said he was a passenger on the Wilderness Legacy cruise ship, posted on social media. 

"Our boat rescued a stranded vessel last night and apparently we did that after the Coast Guard radioed Mark Zuckerberg's yacht — which was closer — and they repeatedly refused to respond. (There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this)," he said.

“The situation was resolved without any harm to life,” Ian Ralby, who is a maritime lawyer with experience in more than 100 countries, said. 

“It does not seem that there was any immediate issue in terms of threat to life of mariners or concerns for the marine environment, which are the two main things that lead to that urgent distress call where all mariners no matter who they are are legally obligated to try and respond.”