President-elect Donald Trump dines with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Wednesday, bringing together the Facebook founder and the former president, who was once banned from that social network Was.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the meeting in a statement to CBS News, saying that Zuckerberg was “grateful for the invitation to join us for dinner with President Trump and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming administration.” Are.”
Stephen Miller, who has been appointed deputy chief of staff for Trump's second term, said Zuckerberg, like other business leaders, wants to support Trump's economic plans. Tech CEOs are trying to shift the perception of their company in the right direction after a rocky relationship with Trump.
“Mark, obviously, he has his own interests, and he has his own company and he has his own agenda,” Miller said in an interview on Fox News about the meeting. “But he has made clear that he wants to support America's national renewal under Trump's leadership.”
Trump was turned off facebook Following the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, it was determined that his posts had potentially encouraged the violence that occurred that day. company restored his account As early as 2023, but with certain “guardrails”. In July, those restrictions Picked up by meta.
Trump has a total of 65 million followers on Facebook and Instagram.
During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse any candidate for president.
Zuckerberg has since taken a more positive stance toward Trump. Earlier this year, he praised Trump's response to his first assassination attempt and called it “badass.” Zuckerberg also complained that senior Biden administration officials pressured Facebook to “censor” some COVID-19 content during the pandemic.
Nevertheless, Trump continued to publicly attack Zuckerberg in recent months. In July, he posted a message on his social network Truth Social threatening to jail those who committed election fraud, citing the nickname used for the Meta CEO. “Zuckerbucks, be careful!” Trump wrote.
Tech mogul Elon Musk also arrives on Thanksgiving eve has become More influential in Trump's Make America Great Again movement, contributing an estimated $200 million through its political action committee to help elect Trump. Musk is the billionaire owner of the X social network, a competitor to Meta.
Trump's X account, then known as Twitter, was also suspended In January 2021. but he had an account restore again in november 2022 After Musk's purchase of the companyAfter posting the poll, users were asked whether Trump's account would be reinstated should they do so.
Musk has spent a lot of time at Mar-a-Lago since the election and Trump chose them to lead An outside advisory panel known as the “Department of Government Efficiency” was formed to identify the waste, along with venture capitalist and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.