--- title: "Trump Threatens to Imprison Mark Zuckerberg" description: "In a forthcoming coffee table book, former president Donald Trump cites conspiracy theories while threatening to jail Mark Zuckerberg." date: "2024-08-30" modified: "2024-08-30" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/trump-threatens-to-imprison-mark-zuckerberg" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "2024 election" - "conspiracy theories" - "donald trump" - "mark zuckerberg" --- # Trump Threatens to Imprison Mark Zuckerberg ![In a forthcoming coffee table book, former president Donald Trump cites conspiracy theories while threatening to jail Mark Zuckerberg.]() *\Image: Anna Moneymaker / Alex Wong via Getty / Futurism\* In a forthcoming coffee table book titled "Save America," former president Donald Trump accuses billionaire Meta-formerly-Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg of scheming to skew the 2020 election against him — and, [as spotted by *Politico*](), swears that Zuckerberg will "spend the rest of his life in prison" should he do so again. Per *Politico*, the coffee table literature features a photo of Zuck and Trump in the White House. To caption the image, Trump writes that the social media founder would "come to the Oval Office to see me" and "bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be." But in a sudden turn, Trump then alleges — in his characteristically manic capitalization style — that the Facebook founder was secretly playing him by meanwhile "always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT." With his "lock box" reference, as *Politico* notes, Trump seems to be referring to the hundreds of millions of dollars that Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated to election infrastructure initiatives in 2020. There's [no evidence]() to support the idea that private funding swayed the 2020 election in any way; for that matter, extensive investigations and court cases have [found no evidence]() to support the idea that the election was in *any* way stolen from Trump. A voting data expert [*hired* ]()*[by the Trump campaign]()* even said so in an [op-ed for *USA Today*]() earlier this year. And yet! Apparently, according to "Save America," Trump believes that Zuck should be locked away for his nonexistent election crimes — if he does those nonexistent election crimes again, that is. "He told me there was nobody like Trump on Facebook. But at the same time, and for whatever reason, steered it against me," Trump rages in the book, according to *Politico*. "We are watching him closely," the former present adds, "and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election." Again, there's zero proof that Zuckerberg aided "cheating" efforts in the 2020 election. In fact, the main presidential election scandal associated with Zuck is the [Cambridge Analytica scandal](), in which a political consulting firm with close ties to Trump's 2016 campaign was discovered to have misused Facebook data for tens of millions of users in a ploy to target American voters. So if anything, Facebook and its founder have been a net positive for Trump. Even so, as part of an overall effort to undermine faith in the electoral system, Trump has repeatedly attacked Zuckerberg's alleged 2020 election plotting, for example last month referring to as "Zuckerbucks" in a [Truth Social post]() about "Election Fraudsters." "All I can say is that if I’m elected President, we will pursue Election Fraudsters at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time," read the post. "We already know who you are. DON'T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!" The worst part? It's working: Zuck has vowed not to donate any money to electoral infrastructure this time around, and [this week]() even sucked up — zucked up? — to the GOP by sending a letter to the House Judiciary Committee claiming that the Biden Administration had "pressured" him to "censor" COVID-19 misinformation. As it turns out, threatening to imprison powerful tech founders over conspiracy theories works — and in turn, ironically, adds false validation to bolster those very lies. **More on Trump:** [*Trump's Meme Stock Nosedives to Record Low as Execs Abandon Ship*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()