About two weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, parent company of Instagram and Facebook, was a guest of President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate. That meeting was seen by many as the beginning of a new period of collaboration between the U.S. billionaire and the MAGA leader, whose relations over the years have often been anything but idyllic.
Now, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg has decided to solidify this “partnership” with the president-elect. Meta has in fact donated $1 million to the committee that will be in charge of Trump’s inauguration celebration at the White House. According to CNN, “Zuck” is reportedly seeking a more active role in the incoming administration, which could involve setting new technology policies.
Up to a few months ago, probably no one would have bet on a possible collaboration between the Facebook patron and the MAGA leader. Suffice it to say that just under four years ago, after the assault on Capitol Hill by Trumpian voters, Meta banned the former president from all his social networks. At the time it was determined that some of the posts released by Trump had encouraged his loyalists to storm the U.S. Capitol.
Meta restored his Facebook account in early 2023, but with some “limitations.” These were lifted in July 2024. On Zuckerberg’s main social accounts, the president-elect now boasts more than 65 million followers.
During the last election campaign, moreover, the Fortune billionaire’s positions toward Trump had begun to soften. After last July’s bombing in Butler, Pennsylvania, for example, “Zuck” called the MAGA leader’s reaction “badass”
The CEO of the world’s best-known social network, moreover, had also complained about the pressure exerted on Facebook by Biden government officials, intending to censor some content regarding news about Covid-19, during the pandemic.
Finally, after meeting two weeks ago at Mar-a-Lago, a Trump spokesman had declared that Zuckerberg would “support America’s national renewal” under the MAGA leader’s leadership.
