Zuckerberg dines with Trump
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has had dinner with US President-elect Donald Trump at the Republican's Mar-a-Lago estate, the tech giant has confirmed.
Multiple outlets spotted Zuckerberg, who controls Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, at Trump’s Florida resort, the headquarters of the incoming administration. A Meta spokesperson acknowledged that Zuckerberg and the president-elect had dinner together on Wednesday.
“Mark was grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming administration,” Meta said in a statement. “It’s an important time for the future of American innovation.”
Citing anonymous sources, the New York Times said that the meeting was initiated by Zuckerberg, apparently backtracking on his previous move to censor Trump and fund the Democrats in 2020. The exact subject of their dinner conversation has not been revealed.
“We do not comment on reports of private meetings that did or did not occur,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said initially. Deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller later confirmed the dinner, however.
“Mark, obviously, has his own interest, and he has his own company and he has his own agenda,” Miller told Fox News on Wednesday evening. “But he’s made clear that he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trump's leadership.”
Zuckerberg had banned Trump from Facebook and Instagram in 2021, citing allegations that the then-US president had played a role in inciting the January 6 riot at the US Capitol. The unrest followed protests over the 2020 election, which the Republican officially lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
During the 2020 campaign, Zuckerberg had donated $400 million to various institutions in majority-Democrat areas, ostensibly to promote easier voting and democracy.
The “Zuckerbucks,” as they became known, facilitated what Time magazine described as the “fortification” of the 2020 vote in favor of Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris.
This time around, however, Trump warned that “Zuckerbucks” would be prosecuted as a form of election meddling. By that point, Zuckerberg had already praised Trump’s “badass” response during an attempt on his life at a rally in Pennsylvania, and pledged stay out of the election. By October, Trump was saying in interviews that he liked Zuckerberg “much better now.”
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg’s social media rival Elon Musk has become Trump’s closest adviser, with some media outlets dubbing him “first buddy.” Musk bought Twitter (now X) in 2022 and reversed multiple bans that the previous management had imposed following pressure from the US government, including the ban on Trump's account.
He has been tapped to run a temporary outfit called the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) along with Vivek Ramaswamy, with a mission to drastically slash US bureaucracy.
