The parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, Meta, announced on Thursday that it had contributed $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund.
The donation was confirmed by a corporate official, as published by The Wall Street Journal late on Wednesday evening.
The donation is the most recent development in the erratic relationship between Trump and Mark Zuckerberg’s business, his CEO. During this year’s presidential campaign, Trump explicitly threatened Zuckerberg with life in prison if he did anything he believed to be unlawful.
Last month, the two men enjoyed dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Zuckerberg praised Trump’s response to an assassination attempt in July, calling his raised fist following the shooting one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life, but he declined to endorse either Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris throughout the campaign.
Given how many people rely on Meta’s applications for their news, the company’s relationship with Trump and other politicians has long been delicate. Facebook was given credit for helping Trump’s 2016 campaign reach voters through digital advertising. Following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Metas terminated Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in 2021, along with certain other networks including Twitter. Since then, Trump’s accounts have been reinstated. However, the business has stated in recent years that it is attempting to lessen the quantity of politics in users’ feeds.
The Trump administration will set federal policy over the course of the next four years in a number of areas that are significant to Meta and other digital firms, such as antitrust enforcement and artificial intelligence regulation.
The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Trump in December 2020, toward the end of his first term, in an attempt to dismantle Meta, which was then known as Facebook. The case was approved by two Democratic appointees and then-Chairman Joseph Simons, a Trump appointee, in a 3-2 vote. The case has not yet been resolved.
Venture entrepreneur Marc Andreessen, one of the Meta board members, told the Free Press website this week that he has been at Mar-a-Lago assisting with the transition for around half of his time since the election on November 5. Another investor and former Meta board member, Peter Thiel, has been a longtime adviser to Trump.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!