Trump wants Zuckerberg to be prosecuted for allegedly cheating during the 2020 US election

Former President Donald Trump has called for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to be prosecuted over allegations that his linked group, U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence, gave $2 million to the Georgia elections board. Trump made these allegations on his Truth Social platform and claimed that the system is “RIGGED.” He repeated his false claims that the 2020 vote was rigged against him and raised concerns it could happen again. The watchdog, the Honest Elections Project, is calling for a full investigation into the DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections for what they say is a “flagrant and egregious” violation of a state ban on private funding.

Conservatives have long accused Zuckerberg’s social media platform of censoring right-wing voices as part of its campaign against misinformation. The ban on private funding was put in place after accusations that donors used their money to push their left-wing agenda ahead of the 2020 elections. It was spurred by anger and suspicion on the right that Zuckerberg’s money benefited Democrats in 2020. The watchdog is now calling for the state attorney general, secretary of state, and state elections board to set up a probe and investigate the cash donation.

Part of the funding which came in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic helped jurisdictions deal with the pandemic by providing ballot drop boxes, voting equipment, additional manpower, protective gear for poll workers, and public education campaigns on new voting methods, among other expenses. Zuckerberg’s money was largely distributed through a nonpartisan foundation that had liberal roots. Some conservative groups cite analyses that the money went disproportionately to Democratic-leaning counties resulting in a higher turnout.

Trump has been bemoaning how the majority of the money was channeled to Democratic counties, where turnout increased. In February 2022, he demanded a full forensic audit of the $417 million given by Mark Zuckerberg, who used to come to the White House and kiss his ass. He claimed that “these people – they call them mules – ballots in Georgia and other swing states were trafficked and sold on an unprecedented scale and the brutality … it was just incredible what took place that we have it on tape.” Elections are more expensive in populous urban areas, and especially more so in 2020, when states scrambled to shift to mail voting to deal with the pandemic.

The Republican attorney general of Louisiana in 2020 ordered his state’s election offices to turn down grants from the nonprofit, the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which distributed $350 million of the Zuckerberg money. Republican-leaning areas were also already discouraged from accepting election grants due to conservative suspicion of Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg’s money and its distribution have been an issue that has been bothering Trump for a while