Trump: Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook is worse than TikTok because of ‘Zuckerbucks’

Former President Donald Trump said Monday that he believes Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook is worse than TikTok because of "Zuckerbucks," which is the injection of private money into public election administration. 

Trump has been contrasting TikTok and Facebook as the House of Representatives is considering a bill that will regulate TikTok. 

On Thursday, a House panel unanimously passed a bill that gives TikTok's China-based parent company, ByteDance, 165 days to sell the social media platform. Lawmakers said the bill could be taken up by the House as early as this week and President Biden told reporters Friday that he would sign the bill if Congress passes it.  

Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but was blocked by courts.    

Last week, Trump posted on Truth Social that he opposes the bipartisan TikTok bill.    

“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” he wrote. “I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!” 

Trump told the “John Solomon Reports” podcast on Monday that while he “was right” in the past about TikTok being a national security concern, he believes now that Facebook is more problematic because of its founder, Zuckerberg. 

"I think that Facebook might be worse than TikTok,” Trump said. “And when you think about it, [Zuckerberg] is a bad guy, who spent $500 million on trying to overturn the election with his boxes, his lockboxes and everything else. And you know, a big beneficiary would be Facebook, if they do something with TikTok.” 

The boxes that Trump referenced are likely the ballot drop boxes that many states instituted for absentee voting during the 2020 presidential election. 

“Zuckerbucks is worse, in my opinion, than what TikTok is doing,” Trump added. “So if [Zuckerberg] is going to benefit, because he'll pick up all those customers who don't want to be there [on TikTok], I think you're going to have a very ... bad situation that you have to decide. I really believe you have to have competition.” 

The Center for Tech and Civic Life poured about $350 million into local elections offices managing the 2020 election, with most of the funds donated to the nonprofit by Zuckerberg. The nonprofit has claimed its 2020 election grants — colloquially known as "Zuckerbucks" — were allocated without partisan preference to make voting safer amid the pandemic. 

However, a House Republican investigation found that less than 1% of the funds were spent on personal protective equipment. Most of the funds were focused on get-out-the-vote efforts and registrations. 

Following controversy surrounding the disproportionate private funding funneled to Democratic jurisdictions and claims the imbalance helped sway the 2020 election in Biden's favor, 27 states have either restricted or banned the use of private money to fund elections, while 12 counties have also restricted or banned the funds, according to the Capital Research Center.