Mark Zuckerberg has faced questions over why a small cruise ship in south-east Alaska rescued a stranded skiff and its crew when his 387ft superyacht had been closer.

The Silicon Valley billionaire’s yacht, worth a reported $300m, is said to have “repeatedly” declined to assist when a nearby boat called for help last week.

Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms, was not on board at the time, a spokesperson told Forbes.

When a nearby 21ft skiff ran out of fuel between Petersburg and Juneau, the Alaska Beacon reported operators of a cruise ship that was further away than Zuckerberg’s yacht came to the rescue.

“I’m on a small-ship Alaska cruise with my son,” a passenger on the UnCruise Adventures ship Wilderness Legacy posted on Bluesky.

“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).”

But Brian Baker, a spokesperson for Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, told Forbes that the couple were not on board his yacht, named Launchpad. The yacht crew had been operating on a different radio channel, Baker told Forbes. “The assist was already under way” by the time they reviewed the broadcast, he said.

Even if he was not on his ship, the report is unlikely to boost public opinion of Zuckerberg, who has faced criticism over the societal impact of his social media platforms; his new warm relationship with Donald Trump; and his lavish, insular lifestyle.

“I live in Juneau and I’ve been having to look at that excessive eyesore parked up in [Auke Bay] for too long now,” a Reddit user wrote of the yacht in response to the rescue story. “Fuck Zuckerberg.”