Mark Zuckerberg declines to endorse Donald Trump or Joe Biden for upcoming election

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has declined to endorse either Donald Trump or Joe Biden and said he does not plan to be involved in the upcoming U.S. presidential election in any way, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

Zuckerberg's comments come as several influential figures in Silicon Valley, including Tesla boss Elon Musk and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, back Trump for president.

In an interview with the publication on Thursday, the billionaire tech executive said former President Trump's immediate reaction after being shot was "badass" and inspiring, and helps explain his appeal to voters.

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A gunman opened fire on Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, with one of the bullets grazing his right ear.

The assassination attempt has enraged his supporters and paused the Democratic campaign, raising fears of further political violence.

Meta has frequently called out Trump's posts for containing misinformation and breaching content rules on its platforms. It also suspended his Facebook and Instagram accounts for about two years following the January 2021 Capitol riots.Zuckerberg said Meta was making changes that he hoped would mean Facebook was not as much of a flashpoint in elections going forward.

"I think you're going to see our services play less of a role in this election than they have in the past," the report quoted him as saying.

Meta and Zuckerberg did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Zuckerberg calls Trump ‘badass’

Following the Trump assassination attempt at Pennsylvania, the Meta boss said that former President’s immediate reaction after being shot was “badass” and inspiring, and helps explain his appeal to voters.

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“Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” the Meta Platforms Inc. chief executive officer said Thursday during an interview at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. “On some level as an American, it’s like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that’s why a lot of people like the guy.”

{With inputs from two wires}

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