The CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, met with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence early this Thursday, as confirmed by people familiar with the meeting. Political. On several occasions, Trump has accused Zuckerberg of censoring conservative points of view on his platforms, so the visit by the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is an attempt to get closer to the president-elect in the face of any possible harmful action that could lead the new administration.
Meta has been the target of various members of the Republican party, some of whom have gone so far as to ask Congress to stop what they consider to be censorship of their opinions. Even Trump has come to accuse Zuckerberg to “conspire” against himl during the 2020 elections.
Four years ago, various non-profit organizations funded by Zuckerberg came to donate more than 400 million dollars to help with the infrastructure necessary to carry out voting in the midst of the pandemic. For this reason, Trump and some Republicans believe that the owner of Facebook interfered in that year’s elections and that he did so against them. In fact, the now president-elect has even suggested the idea of imprisoning Zuckerberg if a similar scenario were repeated on November 5th.
A spokesperson for Meta has assured that Zuckerberg has been “grateful” for Trump’s invitation to dinner at his mansion and to be able to “meet with members of his team to talk about the incoming administration.” Stephen Miller, the president-elect’s future policy advisor, has confirmed to the Fox network the meeting and assured that Zuckerberg “has been very clear about his desire to support and participate in this change that we are seeing throughout America, around the world, this reform movement that Trump is leading.”
Zuckerberg’s approach comes shortly after Trump tapped Brendan Carr to head the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the independent agency that regulates radio, television and wireless telecommunications. The future director of the FCC has been one of those critical voices among conservatives and has come to label Apple, Meta, Google and Microsoft as a “censorship cartel.”
Carr is the author of one of the chapters in the ultra-conservative Project 2025 plan that precisely talks about the management of the FCC and in which he defends that the agency should regulate the largest technology companies such as Apple, Meta, Google, YouTube and Microsoft. According to Carr, these companies pose a threat to “individual freedom” in the United States through the supposed expulsion of certain political points of view from their platforms. The X platform, in the hands of Elon Musk, seems to be the only one that escapes the conservative politician’s criticism.
With the prospect that Trump could return to the White House, Zuckerberg has long been working to reconcile with the magnate. In the last year and a half, owner Meta has had at least two calls with Trump. According to knowledgeable people New York Timesin one of those conversations Zuckerberg wished Trump well and “prayed” for him after Butler’s assassination attempt. Shortly after the event, during an interview, the executive director of Meta showed a certain admiration for the Republican, ensuring that he seemed like a “tough guy” when he raised his fist in front of the crowd after surviving the shooting.
Zuckerberg’s efforts appear to have softened the Republican. Last October, Trump said in an interview with the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast that he felt better about Zuckerberg and considered it “nice” that he “stayed out of the elections,” referring to the 2020 donation. He also confirmed the call after the attack and the magnate thanked him for the gesture.
With whom he also does not have a very good relationship, Zuckerberg with the owner of X and future director of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk. The rivalry between the two reached the point that they spent a good part of 2023 challenging each other to a physical combat. Unlike Zuckerberg, Musk seems to be living a honeymoon with the tycoon after having donated hundreds of millions of dollars to his campaign and having put his social network’s algorithm at the service of his message.
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