By Matt Egan | CNN
Facebook once again finds itself in the crosshairs of former President Donald Trump. And that’s making some traders on Wall Street nervous.
Meta Platforms (META), the owner of Facebook and one of the stars of the recent market rally, fell about 4% on Monday after Trump called into CNBC and labeled Facebook “an enemy of the people.”
Meta shares also retreated 1.2% on Friday following a post by Trump on Truth Social where the former president blasted Facebook as “a true Enemy of the People!”
Meta’s market valuation has dropped by more than $60 billion since Trump’s attacks began Thursday evening.
No major news appeared to drive the Meta selloff, other than the condemnation from the former – and possibly future – president of the United States.
“It has everything to do with the comments from former President Trump,” Gil Luria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, told CNN. “Facebook has gone through waves of being dragged into the political debate – and it never bodes well for them.”
Trump surprised many last week by reversing his stance on TikTok and coming out against the TikTok ban that many in Congress – including many Republicans – are pushing for.
Why? Well, Trump argues that banning TikTok would help Facebook, a company the former president has a long history of battling with.
“The thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media,” Trump told CNBC Monday morning before US markets opened.
Facebook imposed a two-year ban on Trump in the wake of the Jan 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Meta reinstated Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in February 2023.
“I think Facebook has been very dishonest. I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections,” Trump said.
Meta did not respond to a request for comment.
Investors are clearly taking notice of the attacks from…
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