Trump has big problems with Big Tech

Former President Donald Trump name-dropped Mark Zuckerberg in a recent interview. Last week, he threatened to send the Meta CEO to jail if elected.

• Trump name-dropped Mark Zuckerberg in a Bloomberg Businessweek interview published Tuesday.
• Trump said he was in favor of TikTok because it competes with Zuckerberg's platforms.
• Last week, Trump threatened to jail Zuckerberg if he's elected in November.

Former President Donald Trump can't seem to stop himself from taking every given opportunity to bash Mark Zuckerberg.

The latest shot at the Facebook founder and Meta CEO came in an interview that Trump gave to Bloomberg Businessweek, published on Tuesday.

The wide-ranging interview, which took place in late June, covered Trump's opinions on the economy, foreign policy, and his views on several CEOs.

While he praised Apple CEO Tim Cook and JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, Trump railed against Big Tech companies, calling them "too big" and "too powerful."

"I don't want to hurt those companies. But I don't want them destroying our youth, either," Trump said.

Trump emphasized that while he didn't want to destroy Big Tech companies because they're important for competing against other countries, he believed some guardrails still needed to be implemented.

"If you go after them very violently, you can destroy them," Trump said. "I don't want to destroy them. I want them to thrive."

"But I don't want them to influence elections. I don't want them to destroy children when children are, you know, committing suicide all over the country, which has been happening," he added, seemingly referencing Zuckerberg's appearance at a dramatic Senate hearing in January.

During the hearing, Zuckerberg made a rare apology to the families who blamed social media abuse for their children's deaths.

"I'm sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should have to go through the things that your families have suffered," Zuckerberg told the families in attendance.

Although Trump suggested that he would take a cautious approach to what he calls a "complex situation," he didn't sound like he would exercise that same nuance on Facebook.

"Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm for TikTok because you need competition," Trump told Bloomberg. "If you don't have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram, and that's, you know, that's Zuckerberg."

Representatives for Trump and Meta didn't immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

No love lost

The GOP presidential nominee has long been critical of the Meta chief.

Last week, Trump threatened to put Zuckerberg in jail after accusing him of committing election fraud.

"All I can say is that if I'm elected President, we will pursue Election Fraudsters at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time," Trump said in Truth Social post on July 9.

"We already know who you are. DON'T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!" he added.

The feud between the two seems to stem from Meta's decision to bar Trump from the platform following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The ban was lifted in early 2023.

"All of a sudden, I went from No. 1 to having nobody," Trump said in his interview with Bloomberg, adding that he now relies on his own platform, Truth Social.

Zuckerberg's tense relationship with Trump contrasts starkly with that of his Big Tech counterparts, some of whom have gone all in on Trump.

Zuckerberg's tense relationship with Trump contrasts starkly with his peers, some of whom — including Elon Musk, fellow PayPal mafia member David Sacks, and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz —have gone all in on Trump.

Musk, in fact, gave his endorsement just minutes after the failed assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday.

"I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery," Musk wrote in an X post.

For what it's worth, Zuckerberg also commented on the shooting, saying that he was "praying for a quick recovery for President Trump."

"This is such a sad day for our country. Political violence undermines democracy and must always be condemned," Zuckerberg wrote in a Threads post.

On Friday, Meta announced that it was removing the remaining restrictions and penalties it had imposed on Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Meta said the decision took into account Trump's formal nomination as the GOP's presidential candidate, which took place on Monday.

"In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis," Meta's president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said in a blog post.