Trump: "Zuckerberg conspired against me... If he does it again, lifetime prison"

Repeated Claims of Unfair Practices in Facebook Presidential Election

Former President Donald Trump claimed that Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, conspired to ensure his defeat in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

According to Politico on the 29th (local time), Trump included a photo of himself meeting Zuckerberg at the White House in his upcoming book "Save America," set to be published on the 3rd of next month.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump
[Photo by Reuters]

Under the photo, Trump wrote, "He brought his wonderful wife to the dinner and was very kind, but he was always secretly conspiring against the president and trying to install a shameful 'lock box'." Politico explained that this refers to Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan’s $420 million donation to election infrastructure during the 2020 election amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Republican Party has criticized this as an unfair act aiding the Democratic Party.

In the book, Trump asserted, "Zuckerberg said there was no one like Trump on Facebook. But at the same time, for some reason, he manipulated Facebook (to my disadvantage)."

He continued, "We are watching him closely, and if he commits illegal acts again, he will spend the rest of his life in prison. Others who try to cheat in the 2024 election will face the same fate," he warned.

Trump has made similar remarks about Zuckerberg before. In July, on his social media platform Truth Social, he wrote that if elected, he would "track election fraudsters like never before and send them to prison for a long time," adding, "We already know who you are. Don’t do it! Beware of Zuckerbucks!" Zuckerbucks is a portmanteau of Zuckerberg’s name and "bucks," referring to dollars.

The Republican Party has criticized Facebook for blocking content unfavorable to the Democrats during the 2020 election, such as the "Ukraine scandal" involving President Joe Biden’s son Hunter. On the 26th, Zuckerberg expressed regret in a letter to Jim Jordan, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (Republican, Ohio), for blocking the New York Post article link related to the Ukraine scandal during the 2020 election. He also stated that his goal is to maintain political neutrality and that he would not make donations like those four years ago.