The billionaire financier George Soros is calling for Mark Zuckerberg to give up control of Facebook.

Soros and Facebook are trapped in a bitter and long-running dispute over Facebook's impact on society.

Soros has argued that Zuckerberg's and President Donald Trump's interests are aligned and that there's an "informal mutual assistance operation."

In a column in The New York Times on Friday, Soros wrote that Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg "should not be left in control of Facebook."

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

George Soros is gunning for Mark Zuckerberg again.

On Friday, the billionaire investor published a column in The New York Times calling for Zuckerberg to be forced to give up control of Facebook, inflaming the years-long bitter dispute between the social network and the Hungarian American philanthropist.

Soros argued that Facebook's policy decisions on political advertising were benefiting President Donald Trump and that the interests of Trump and the 35-year-old billionaire CEO are aligned.

"I believe that Mr. Trump and Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, realize that their interests are aligned — the president's in winning elections, Mr. Zuckerberg's in making money," Soros wrote.

Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg must relinquish control of Facebook, Soros said, suggesting they must be forced to if necessary.

"I repeat and reaffirm my accusation against Facebook under the leadership of Mr. Zuckerberg and Ms. Sandberg," he wrote. "They follow only one guiding principle: maximize profits irrespective of the consequences. One way or another, they should not be left in control of Facebook."

Soros' column is an escalation of remarks he made earlier in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he said he believed there was "an informal mutual assistance operation or agreement developing between Trump and Facebook." (A Facebook representative called the remarks "plain wrong" at the time.)

In January 2018, Soros lambasted Facebook (and Google) as a "menace" to society with damaging effects on democracy.

Facebook responded by engaging an opposition-research firm, Definers, to smear Soros and anti-Facebook activists in attacks that were decried by critics as anti-Semitic. (Soros is Jewish and a frequent target of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.) After Facebook's actions were revealed by The Times in November 2018, Facebook dropped the firm, and Zuckerberg denied having any knowledge of it.

A Facebook representative did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Do you work at Facebook? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at (+1) 650-636-6268 using a non-work device, email at rprice@businessinsider.com, Telegram or WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by email only, please.)