Mark Zuckerberg gives a very surprising endorsement for the 2024 presidential election

Mark Zuckerberg had an interesting answer when asked to endorse either President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump ahead of the upcoming presidential election over the weekend. 

The Meta CEO declined to offer his opinion on the matter Friday, but did praise Trump for surviving his widely seen assassination attempt just a few days before.

Calling the Republican's fist pump 'one of the most bada*s things [he'd] ever seen in [his] life,' he said he still does not want to play a 'significant role' in the 2024 election.

He offered the statement to Bloomberg, as several influential figures in Silicon Valley start to back Trump for president.

Big names include billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, along with several former Democratic donors as well, such as Palantir adviser Jacob Helberg and Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire.

The 40-year-old Meta CEO declined to offer his opinion on the matter Friday during an interview on 'The Circuit with Emily Chang' at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California, but did praise Trump for surviving his widely seen assassination attempt a few days before

'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,' Zuckerberg, 40, said at one point during the interview

'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,' Zuckerberg, 40, said during an interview at Meta HQ 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,' the Facebook founder added.

'And I think that that's why a lot of people like the guy.'

But he stopped short of any form of endorsement, saying, 'I'm not planning on doing that this time, and that includes not endorsing either of the candidates.'

'The main thing that I hear from people is that they actually want to see less political content on our services because they come to our services to connect with people,' he said, explaining his and his $1.2 trillion firm's reasoning. 

'So, that's what we're going to do.

'We give people control over this, but we're generally trying to recommend less political content,' he continued.

'So, I think you're going to see our services play less of a role in this election than they have in the past.'

'So, I think you're going to see our [Meta's] services play less of a role in this election than they have in the past,' he said at another. U.S. President Joe Biden is seen greeting shoppers inside Mario's Westside Market grocery store in Las Vegas last week

Previously, during the 2020 election between Biden and Trump, the then-Facebook boss funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into local election offices to turn out likely Democratic voters, after saying he had found himself 'disgusted' by Trump's rhetoric on race.

However, like this year, he stopped short of an actual endorsement, as often is the case with several company figureheads force to walk a tightrope of antitrust laws and political bias.

Rising Public animosity toward the ultra-wealthy, moreover, does not help - and can be considered as much of a liability as an asset for a particular candidate.

This holds especially true for those those leading the charge that is Big Tech, which has been rising in recent years.

Trump, meanwhile, has attacked Zuckerberg on social media and in interviews several times over the years, even proclaiming on his own platform Truth Social that he would send 'ZUCKERBUCKS' to prison if he were elected.

Trump has also said that Zuckerberg has approached him in private, telling Business Insider at a 2022 rally: 'Last week, the weirdo - he's a weirdo - Mark Zuckerberg came to the White House, kissed my ass all night.'

Facebook and Instagram reinstated Trump's accounts last year, after he had been suspended for several years before in the wake of the January 6 insurrection. 

Facebook and Instagram reinstated Trump's accounts last year, after he had been suspended for several years before in the wake of the January 6 insurrection. Zuckerberg is seen here with an American Flag on a wakeboard, for a video shared to followers on July Fourth

Zuckerberg, meanwhile, has supported both Republicans and Democrats in the past, declaring for then- GOP governor of New Jersey Chris Christie in 2013, and famously hit the digital campaign trail with then President Barack Obama in 2012.

He received criticism for his donations to election offices last cycle, as Republicans accused of helping get President Biden get elected. 

As a result, during the 2022 midterms, the nonprofit that distributed the money came forward to say that it wouldn't disburse similar donations anymore.

Biden, in turn, has also voiced criticism toward Zuckerberg in the past, seemingly stemming from the federal government's surveillance, antitrust and information-gathering claims.

'I've never been a big Zuckerberg fan,' the president told The New York Times of Zuckerberg while running for president in 2020. 'I think he's a real problem.'