Zuckerberg takes another veiled shot at Donald Trump

Steven Loeb · April 12, 2016 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/44b4

Trump has blasted Zuckerberg over immigration, while Zuck has called out Trump's fear mongering

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It's safe to say that there's no love lost between Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump. In fact, the two men seem to actively dislike each other.

Case in point: at the F8 developer conference on Tuesday, where Zuckerberg outlined the future of his company, and where he sees Facebook in the next 10 years, he still took the time out to implicitly take a shot at the Republican presidential frontrunner.

Here is what Zuckerberg had to say:

"As I look around and as I travel around the world, I'm starting to see people and nations turning inward, against this idea of a connected world and a global community. I hear fearful voices calling for building walls and distancing people they label as others," he told the audience.

"For blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, reducing trade, and in some cases around the world even cutting access to the Internet."

His ultimate point: “It takes courage to choose hope over fear."

Now, of course Trump's name was never mentioned, but it was obvious who he was talking about, especially with the term "building walls."

This is just the latest salvo in a war of words between the two billionaires, most of which has revolved around the issue of immigration.

It all started when Trump went after tech companies over H-1B visas, which Fwd.us, the pro-immigration PAC started by Zuckerberg, has been lobbying to increase. Trump accused companies in the tech ecosystem of using these visa to pay workers lower wages, and to take away jobs from qualified Americans. 

He even went so far as to call Marco Rubio (remember him?) "Mark Zuckerberg’s personal Senator," for his support of H-1Bs. 

FWD.us has lobbied Congress to get them raise the cap on the number of H-1B visas. Currently, 65,000 H-1B visas can be granted each year, with an additional 20,000 visas available for people who have obtained a master's degree or higher.

The organization responded to Trump's accusations, saying that "The idea we should radically restrict pathways for highly-skilled immigrants to come and stay here is –again – just wrong."

Zuckerberg also took a passive aggressive swipe at Trump in December, in response to Trump proposing a “total and complete” ban on Muslims entering the United States (something that even Dick Cheney found to be morally repugnant), Zuckerberg made vocal support of the Muslim community.

"If you're a Muslim in this community, as the leader of Facebook I want you to know that you are always welcome here and that we will fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe environment for you," Zuckerberg wrote. 

If Trump does (somehow) become the next President of the United States, Zuckerberg should probably not plan on attending any more state dinners any time soon.

You can see Zuckerberg's keynote below. They come in the opening minutes of his speech (I apologize for the low quality, but this is the best version I could find)

(Image source: fastcompany.com)

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