President Trump picked an interesting time to go after Facebook, blasting the social network and other “biased” major tech companies on Thursday morning.
“Check out how biased Facebook, Google and Twitter are in favor of the Democrats,” Trump wrote … on Twitter.
“That’s the real Collusion!” The comment followed Trump’s skewering “highly conflicted” special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into improper Russian connections, saying the probe was being led by Mueller’s “gang of Democrat thugs.”
The only “Collusion” is that of the Democrats with Russia and many others. Why didn’t the FBI take the Server from the DNC? They still don’t have it. Check out how biased Facebook, Google and Twitter are in favor of the Democrats. That’s the real Collusion!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2018
Trump’s Facebook barb comes a day after The New York Times reported the company used Definers, a Republican political consulting firm, to attack its critics and competitors. Definers tied Facebook protestors to financier George Soros, a longtime target of conservatives and anti-Semites for his financial contributions to left-wing causes, according to the Times.
On behalf of Facebook, Definers also posted several disparaging articles about Google and Apple on NTK Network, an outlet that’s routinely picked up by conservative sites like Breitbart. Facebook terminated its relationship with Definers on Thursday without giving a reason.
This wasn’t the first time President Trump has taken on Silicon Valley. Trump criticized Facebook and Twitter in August over their removal of Alex Jones. The online conspiracy theorist had been permanently suspended by Facebook and Google-owned YouTube that same month; Twitter later banned Jones in September for violating its “abusive behavior” policy.
“I won’t mention names but when they take certain people off of Twitter or Facebook and they’re making that decision, that is really a dangerous thing because that could be you tomorrow,” Trump told Reuters.
The president also tweeted last September Facebook is “always Anti-Trump.”
Despite his criticism, Trump has remained a prominent advertiser on Facebook. He was the platform’s biggest spender on political ads, a New York University study found in July.