George Soros claims that Facebook is working with Trump to get him re-elected

At the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Soros said, “I think there is a kind of informal mutual assistance operation or agreement developing between Trump and Facebook,” he added, “Facebook will work together to re-elect Trump, and Trump will work to protect Facebook so that this situation cannot be changed and it makes me very concerned about the outcome for 2020.”

The National Post noted that Soros did not back up his claims with any evidence. A spokesman for Facebook, Andy Stone responded to the claims saying, “This is just plain wrong.”

Soros has previously made similar accusations against the company during a Davos speech in 2018. He said that Facebook treats its users in a similar way that gambling companies do when they get their users hooked.

Facebook has been accused of shady business by many in recent years. One incident that stands out is the Russian misinformation campaign which was on the website without being detected for months leading up to the 2016 election.

Some people are arguing that Facebook already unintentionally supports Trump by rewarding content that has viral potential which Trump produces a lot of.

The company made the choice not to take political ads that may contain lies down. Mark Zuckerberg noted that a corporation should not make the call on such things and he cited the first amendment.

On Thursday, Soros said, “Facebook basically has only one guiding principle: maximize your profits irrespective of what harm it may do to the world.”

When Soros made comments about the company in 2018, Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer had employees investigate whether Soros was making the comments for financial reasons.

In a statement, Facebook said, “That research was already underway when Sheryl sent an email asking if Mr. Soros had shorted Facebook’s stock.”

Sanberg received criticism for mishandling the situation.