While Mark Zuckerberg decided not to endorse either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump ahead of the upcoming presidential election, he did give one of the politicians a surprising compliment.
Meta’s chief executive declined to offer his opinion on the matter on Friday, but praised Trump for surviving his widely watched assassination attempt just days earlier.
He called the Republican’s fist pump “one of the rudest things he’s ever seen in his life” and said he doesn’t want to play a “major role” in the 2024 election.
He offered the statement to Bloombergas several influential Silicon Valley figures begin to endorse Trump for president.
Big names include billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, along with several former Democratic donors, such as Palantir adviser Jacob Helberg and Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire.
Meta’s 40-year-old CEO declined to offer his opinion on the matter Friday during an interview on “The Circuit with Emily Chang” at Meta’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, but praised Trump for surviving his widely watched assassination attempt just days earlier.
“Watching Donald Trump stand up after being shot in the face and raise his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Zuckerberg, 40, said at one point during the interview.
“Watching Donald Trump stand up after being shot in the face and raise his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Zuckerberg, 40, said during an interview at Meta HQ in Menlo Park, California.
“In some ways, as an American, it’s hard not to be moved by that spirit and that fight,” the Facebook founder added.
“And I think that’s why a lot of people like this guy.”
But he stopped short of giving any kind of endorsement, saying: “I don’t plan to do that this time, and that includes not endorsing any of the candidates.”
“The main thing I hear from people is that they really want to see less political content on our services because they come to our services to connect with people,” he said, explaining his reasoning and that of his $1.2 trillion company.
-So that’s what we’re gonna do.
“We give people control over that, but in general we try to recommend less political content,” he continued.
“So I think we’ll see our services play a less important role in these elections than they have in the past.”
“So I think you’re going to see our (Meta’s) services play a less important role in this election than they have in the past,” he said in another. U.S. President Joe Biden greets shoppers inside Mario’s Westside Market grocery store in Las Vegas last week
Earlier during the 2020 election, the then Facebook boss funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to local election offices to woo potential Democratic voters. Pictured here, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was also in Las Vegas last week. He previously ran as a Democrat.
Facebook and Instagram reinstated Trump’s accounts last year after they had been suspended for several years in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Earlier, during the 2020 election between Biden and Trump, the then Facebook boss funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to local election offices to woo potential Democratic voters, after saying he was “disgusted” by Trump’s rhetoric on race.
But, as this year, he stopped short of providing any real support, as is often the case with several senior figures in the company forced to walk a tightrope between antitrust laws and political bias.
Furthermore, growing public animosity towards the ultra-rich does not help and can be seen as both a disadvantage and an advantage for a particular candidate.
This is especially true for those leading the Big Tech movement, which has been growing in recent years.
Meanwhile, Trump has attacked Zuckerberg on social media and in interviews several times over the years, even proclaiming on his own platform Truth Social that he would send ‘ZUCKERBUCKS’ to prison if elected.
Trump has also said Zuckerberg has reached out to him privately, telling Business Insider at a 2022 rally: “Last week, the weirdo — he’s a weirdo — Mark Zuckerberg came to the White House and kissed my ass all night long.”
Facebook and Instagram reinstated Trump’s accounts last year after they had been suspended for several years in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Biden, meanwhile, has also voiced criticism of Zuckerberg in the past, apparently stemming from allegations of surveillance, antitrust and federal government intelligence gathering.
Zuckerberg, meanwhile, has supported both Republicans and Democrats in the past, declaring himself in favor of then-Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in 2013, and famously campaigning digitally with then-President Barack Obama in 2012.
He came under fire for his donations to election offices last cycle, as Republicans accused him of helping President Biden get elected.
As a result, during the 2022 midterm elections, the nonprofit that distributed the money came forward and said it would no longer disburse similar donations.
Biden, meanwhile, has also voiced criticism of Zuckerberg in the past, apparently stemming from allegations of surveillance, antitrust and federal government intelligence gathering.
“I’ve never been a big fan of Zuckerberg,” the president told The New York Times of Zuckerberg while running for president in 2020. “I think he’s a real problem.”
