Biden aide deletes tweet suggesting team may have hostile attitude towards Facebook
Campaigns Deputy Communications Director retweeted Sacha Baron Cohen dig at Mark Zuckerberg
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.One of Joe Biden’s top campaign advisors posted and swiftly deleted a tweet suggesting that his incoming administration may be on track for a hostile relationship with Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg in particular.
The tweet, first reported by The Financial Times, was posted on Saturday by Bill Russo, a Deputy Communications Director for Biden's campaign press team, according to the newspaper.
The top aide retweeted a post from Borat actor Sacha Baron Cohen which featured a photo of Mr Trump and Zuckerberg shaking hands accompanied by a caption, reading: “One down. One to go.”
According to The Financial Times, Mr Russo added his own comment on the retweet which said: “Hell yes.”
The post could be a signal that the tech giant is be in for a more hostile relationship with the new administration than they enjoyed under Mr Trump.
The president-elect has previously expressed his distaste for the platform and Mr Zuckerberg, having described him as a “real problem” in a 2019 interview with The New York Times.
“No, I’ve never been a fan of Facebook, as you probably know. I’ve never been a big Zuckerberg fan. I think he’s a real problem,” he said.
“From my perspective, I’ve been in the view that not only should we be worrying about the concentration of power, we should be worried about the lack of privacy and them being exempt, which you’re not exempt.”
Animosity has built between Silicon Valley titans and Democrats over the past four years, with Democratic lawmakers calling for Congress to rein in Big Tech in October.
One Democratic congressional aide told The Financial Times that as a centrist Mr Biden would try to avoid conflict.
"He is not someone who is going to say you should break up this company, but he will say you need to enact aggressive enforcement, and possibly some changes to the rules,” they said.
Bruno star Baron Cohen has also long been a staunch critic of the social media giant and its founder.
In November last year, the 49-year-old launched a scathing attack on social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter, calling them “the greatest propaganda machine in history”.
Both Facebook and the Biden Campaign did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments