U.S. President Donald Trump charged on Wednesday that Facebook has “always” been opposed to him, suggesting it is part of a network of “collusion” along with national newspapers and cable news networks that have covered his White House critically.
President Trump is accusing Facebook of being ‘anti-Trump’
The attack comes as Trump takes aim again at reporters.
Alex Wong / Getty
Trump did not elaborate much on his comments, but his accusations — as always, communicated by tweet — come at a time when Facebook is the target of scrutiny by congressional and federal investigators, who are probing Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Earlier this month, Facebook acknowledged that Russian agents purchased 3,000 ads in the lead-up to the 2016 election. Some of those ads sought to stoke political unrest, sources confirmed to Recode, taking both sides of controversial issues around race and religion. Trump, however, has described the reports of Russian meddling as a “hoax.”
Even before the Russia investigation ensnared Facebook, however, the social giant had experienced a rocky relationship with the commander-in-chief. During the 2016 presidential campaign, for example, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a subtle shot at then-candidate Trump over his support for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. And Trump’s surrogates at the time — who later joined his administration — criticized Zuckerberg sharply for his comments.
Since then, Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives have continued to criticize the president for his approach to issues like immigration. That includes Trump’s decision to end a program known as DACA, which protects children brought to the United States from being deported.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
