Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is contributing $1 million to President-elect Donald J. Trump’s inaugural fund. The move appears to be part of a larger effort by the tech billionaire to win over Trump after the latter accused Zuckerberg of interfering in the 2020 presidential election.
The donation is a notable departure from Meta and Zuckerberg’s previous position, with neither contributing to Trump’s 2017 nor Biden’s 2021 inaugurations. However, the contribution is only one component of a broader effort by the Facebook founder.
In late November, Zuckerberg traveled to Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago and dined with the President-elect, bringing several high-powered political consultants in tow. Brian Baker, a well-networked establishment Republican insider spearheading Zuckerberg’s effort to improve his standing with Republican lawmakers, met with Trump’s White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles. The National Pulse previously reported on Baker’s hiring, who, prior to the 2016 election, was a staunch opponent of Trump.
Additionally, several top Facebook executives who accompanied Zuckerberg met with Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and White House advisors Stephen Miller, Vince Haley, and James Blair.
Zuckerberg’s relationship with America’s political right has deteriorated drastically since the 2020 presidential election. Many on the right have accused the Meta CEO of using his vast wealth and companies to interfere in American elections.
He admitted that his social media platform, Facebook, was pressured by the Biden-Harris government to censor Americans who posted about the COVID-19 pandemic on his website. Additionally, the tech billionaire acknowledges that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had warned them about potential Russian disinformation regarding Burisma and the Biden family, which directly resulted in the New York Post‘s Hunter Biden laptop story being suppressed on Facebook.
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