Former US President Donald Trump has lashed out at Facebook for extending his suspension from the platform to two years. While criticizing the site’s “censoring”, Trump also strongly signaled a 2024 run for the White House.
Facebook announced on Friday that Trump will remain banned from the platform until early 2023, and will only be allowed back on if Facebook deems his presence doesn’t present “a serious risk to public safety,” as the company did after his supporters rioted on Capitol Hill in January.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win,” Trump said in response. “Our country can’t take this abuse anymore!"
Trump also denounced Facebook’s move as an “insult” to the millions who voted for him in last year’s election.
To the disappointment of many of his supporters, Trump failed to bring Big Tech to heel during his presidency. Even amid conservatives’ cries of censorship and discrimination, Trump stuck to complaining on Twitter, and only in the closing stages of his presidency did he fire off a largely toothless executive order aimed at repealing some legal protections for social media companies in the US.
However, with Trump reportedly considering another run for the White House in 2024, the former president suggested on Friday that should he win office again, the gloves will be off.
“Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife,” Trump said in a statement. “It will be all business.”
Trump, in going after Zuckerberg, appears to confirm the obvious: he’s eyeing anothet WH run pic.twitter.com/xZ879oqAp8
Zuckerberg took plenty of flack from Democrats and liberals for dining at the White House with Trump in 2019. However, some conservatives online reckon the Facebook CEO got the last laugh, and managed to flatter Trump’s attention off his platform until it was too late.
Mark Zuckerberg had like two private dinners with Trump and that’s all it took to flatter the Orange flab man into not taking any action on big tech. pic.twitter.com/CM5WbfEAZj
— Internet Dad Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) June 4, 2021
Trump was the President of the United States, the most powerful person on planet Earth. Republicans had complete govt. control for 2 years. They did nothing. The fake outrage over Big Tech censorship is just that, fake. Start electing people who will use the power given to them.
— Jewish Trump Fan 🇺🇸 (@JewsProTrump) June 4, 2021
Trump has only himself to blame for this. He should have made reining in Big Tech his #1 priority while in office. 😡 https://t.co/3jEA6KI394
— Dr. Clayton Forrester (@DrClaytonForre1) June 4, 2021
Since his departure from Washington and exile from social media, Trump has hinted several times at wanting another shot at the presidency, and his candidacy is a given in some Republican circles. Reps. Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan told Fox News’ Sean Hannity late last month that they both expect Trump to run, and among Republican voters, multiple polls have shown that Trump is far and above the favorite candidate.
However, Trump is not the only potential 2024 candidate with the Silicon Valley tech giants in his sights. While he has given no indication that he will run, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has come in second behind Trump in some polls, earning points from Republicans for his handling of the coronavirus crisis, his willingness to trade blows with the media, and crucially, his adversarial stance against Big Tech.
0 Comments