The conclusion of months of work to prepare the social media behemoth for the conservative demands of a second Trump presidency was Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s revelation on Tuesday that he was dispatching professional fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg, who once supported a few progressive causes, such as opposing mass deportations, and frequently met with and occasionally criticized Barack Obama during his presidency, started giving indications last summer that he was getting ready to lean politically toward supporting Donald Trump, a move he is currently executing.
Zuckerberg gave the first clues in July when he applauded Trump’s response to being almost killed, calling his fist raise following the gunshot “one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life.” At the time, however, Zuckerberg toned down the kudos by declaring that he would not support a presidential contender.
In the same month, Meta lifted the specific limitations it had placed on Trump’s Instagram and Facebook accounts following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. This effectively gave Trump a new beginning on the platforms after they had suspended and then reinstated him.
Soon after, there were more rightward steps.
Zuckerberg claimed that the government had forced the corporation to filter content in August, attacking the Biden administration’s response to COVID-19 disinformation. In contrast to his earlier description of his dealings with the government in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan, his critique was much harsher. It also represented a shift from Meta’s earlier rhetoric, which early in the epidemic took a strong stance against hoaxes and other bogus health advice.
In late August, Zuckerberg did nothing in response to a personal threat from Trump. Meta declined to comment after Trump published a book of photos in which he threatened to imprison Zuckerberg for the rest of his life if he did anything unlawful to sway the presidential election.
The transparency website OpenSecrets reports that while Meta’s individual workers generously donated nearly $2 million to Vice President Kamala Harris during the presidential campaign, the company’s PAC did not contribute to either major contender. The business PAC focused on supporting incumbents in Senate races, sent funds to Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, and contributed $30,000 each to the Republican and Democratic senatorial campaign organizations.
Zuckerberg expressed good wishes for Trump following the election on November 5. Meta announced last month that it had contributed $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund. Additionally, Zuckerberg replaced Nick Clegg, a former British deputy prime minister with a less conservative reputation than Kaplan’s, as Meta’s head of global policy this week, appointing Joel Kaplan, a veteran Republican insider.
Dana White, the CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship and a close friend of Trump, was among the new board members revealed by Meta on Monday.
People who had been watching the company for a long time were amazed at how quickly Zuckerberg changed his political stance.
Disinformation specialist Nina Jankowicz remarked on Bluesky that Zuck’s declaration is a complete surrender to Trump and an effort to overtake Musk in his downward spiral. Elon Musk is a tech billionaire. The American Sunlight Project, which combats misinformation, has her as its CEO.
Mark is a relatively centrist executive, according to a Meta insider. In any case, he is not a partisan. However, he has a group of executives and expert political consultants with Republican credentials who are in charge of the company, the person continued.
Venture entrepreneur David Sacks, who will be Trump’s new adviser on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, praised Trump and claimed Zuckerberg’s announcement marked a sea change.
On X, Sacks expressed gratitude to President Trump for bringing about this political and cultural realignment.
Although Zuckerberg, who co-founded his firm about 21 years ago, is not alone in corporate America in changing policies to suit political trends, his turn is distinct due to Meta’s dominance in American online communication. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger are four of the most popular online platforms.
Over the years, the 40-year-old Zuckerberg has also been friendly with some well-known Democrats, such as Obama, who paid a visit to Meta’s (then Facebook’s) headquarters in 2011.
When Trump was elected in 2016, Zuckerberg and Facebook were in the midst of a crisis as they fought claims that Facebook false news affected the election outcome. When Joe Biden won in 2020, Zuckerberg made it a point to publicly support the election results and deny Trump’s claim that they were manipulated, pointing out that Trump had received a large number of legal votes.
Zuckerberg outlined a number of justifications for the policy change in a five-minute video outlining the most recent modifications. He referenced a 2019 Georgetown University address in which he attacked established gatekeepers in the media and politics. The November election was also mentioned by him as a cultural turning moment for less censorship of information.
A representative for the corporation declined to comment when asked about Meta’s rightward moves over the previous six months, but cited the 2019 Georgetown speech as proof of continuity.
The policies that the new Trump administration chooses to implement also directly affect Meta, such as whether the Federal Trade Commission will go to trial in April in an antitrust action aimed at rescinding the company’s 2012 acquisition of Instagram.
With a net worth of $223 billion, Zuckerberg is the third richest person in the world, after Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and Elon Musk, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
He has frequently shown that he can predict the direction of regulatory and political pressures. Following Facebook’s 2017 revelation that Russian agents had attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election through the site, the company and its rivals launched a massive campaign to thwart new federal regulations, which included announcing voluntary transparency measures like a public database of ads.
At other times, however, Zuckerberg has been caught off guard by right-wing criticism. In an attempt to enhance election administration, he and his spouse, Priscilla Chan, invested $350 million in technology funds and other nonpartisan grants to election offices across the country in 2020. However, despite the effort’s nonpartisan nature, Republican state politicians later criticized it. Zuckerberg dropped out of the race for the 2022 election.
According to OpenSecrets, Zuckerberg has contributed to both Republican and Democratic campaigns over the years, including to back past House Speakers Paul Ryan (Republican) and Nancy Pelosi (Democrat).
Biden was getting ready to assume office four years ago when Meta announced it was appointing Roy Austin, a lawyer from the Obama Justice Department, as vice president of civil rights.
At Meta, Zuckerberg is now assisting in policymaking with an expanding team of Republican operatives. Prior to his elevation this week, Kaplan, a former deputy chief of staff in George W. Bush’s White House, posed for a picture at the New York Stock Exchange last month with Trump and vice president-elect JD Vance.
Jennifer Newstead, another George W. Bush administration veteran who assisted in getting the Patriot Act, which permitted heightened government surveillance following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, passed by Congress, serves as Meta’s top legal officer. In 2019, during Trump’s first term, she joined Meta.
During Bush’s second term, Kevin Martin, who was just appointed to the position of vice president of public policy, served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Additionally, Dustin Carmack, a former advisor to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and co-author of Project 2025, a strategy that is assisting in directing Trump’s transition team, joined Meta’s policy team last year.
Sheryl Sandberg, who served as Meta’s chief operating officer for several years and was the most well-known Democrat there, stepped down from her daily position in 2022. Last year, she resigned from the board of directors.
Although there are several Democrats lower on the organizational structure, such as vice president for communications David Ginsberg, there are no longer any significant Democrats in Meta’s C-suite. He has previously worked for the presidential campaigns of John Kerry and Barack Obama.
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