Meta said on Wednesday that it had donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, in the latest move by Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s CEO, to foster a positive rapport with Trump.
The Silicon Valley company did not provide details of why it made the donation, but the move came just weeks after Zuckerberg met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. During that meeting last month, the two men exchanged pleasantries and Zuckerberg congratulated Trump on winning the presidency. Zuckerberg also had a meal with Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, according to a person who saw the meeting happen.
A Meta spokesperson said at the time that Zuckerberg was “grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner.”
The Meta donation was earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal. Gifts to inaugural committees, which do not have contribution limits, are popular among businesses and individuals eager to curry favor with an incoming administration. Trump’s inaugural committee is offering top-tier benefits to donors who contribute $1 million.
Zuckerberg is one of many tech CEOs who have worked to forge direct relationships with Trump. Even before last month’s election, Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai started reaching out to Trump, sometimes flattering him and criticizing his opposition, as they aimed to put themselves in a position that could potentially benefit their businesses.
Trump previously had a strained relationship with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. He had accused the company of restricting him and other conservative voices across its apps. After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Meta had blocked Trump on its platforms, though his accounts have since been reinstated.
Trump had also personally criticized Zuckerberg, once saying that the executive should be jailed in retaliation for “plotting against” him during the 2020 election.
But over the summer, Zuckerberg had at least two private phone calls with Trump. In one call, Zuckerberg wished Trump well and said he was “praying” for him after an assassination attempt this summer at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. In an interview at the time, Zuckerberg said Trump looked like a “badass” after being shot at the rally and pumping his fist to the crowd.
In a letter to Congress in August, Zuckerberg publicly expressed regret around some of his previous political activity. He said that in 2021, the Biden administration “pressured” Meta into censoring more COVID-19 content than he felt comfortable with. He added that would not repeat the contributions he made in 2020 to support electoral efforts because the gifts made him appear not “neutral.”
The New York Times News Service
