President Trump said a potential presidential challenge by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg “wouldn’t be too frightening.”
Trump weighed in on Zuckerberg’s potential political future during an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box that aired Wednesday morning. Trump spoke with the network from the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, while the Senate trial over his impeachment continues.
“I met [Zuckerberg], and he told me that I’m No. 1 in the world in Facebook,” Trump began. He added that he had beaten on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the second-most popular figure on the platform.
Trump was asked about Facebook’s policy against fact-checking political ads on the platform and whether he supported the move or not.
“I’d rather have him just do whatever he is going to do. He’s done a hell of a job when you think of it,” Trump said. “I heard he was going to run for president. That wouldn’t be too frightening, I don’t think, but he does have that monster behind him.”
Zuckerberg, 35, positioned his social media giant as a defender of free speech and expression in an October speech at Georgetown University. Zuckerberg expanded on Facebook’s loose restrictions on political content going into the 2020 campaign season.
“I believe we have two responsibilities,” Zuckerberg said, “to remove content when it could cause real danger as effectively as we can and to fight to uphold as wide a definition of freedom of expression as possible — and not allow the definition of what is considered dangerous to expand beyond what is necessary.”
