Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, an American giant operator of technology companies such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, had dinner this Wednesday with the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, at his Mar-a-Lago mansion, in Florida, as revealed The New York Times. “This is an important moment for the future of American innovation. “Mark appreciated the invitation to have dinner with President Trump and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming Administration,” the company said in a statement released to US media about the meeting.
The relationship between Trump and Zuckerberg has long been distant. The Republican accused Facebook of interfering in the outcome of the 2020 presidential election by silencing conservative voices as part of its content moderation policy. Trump even suggested that he might try to imprison Zuckerberg over accusations that he had interfered in the 2020 election. Meta indefinitely suspended the then-president’s Facebook and Instagram accounts after he praised the violent people at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. . He was readmitted in 2023.
In March, Trump called Facebook the “enemy of the people” in a message on his network, Truth Social. Earlier this month, Trump also appeared to warn Zuckerberg. In July, he returned to the fray: “All I can say is that if I am elected president, we will go after election fraudsters at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time. We already know who they are. DON’T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!” he wrote in another message.
The founder of Facebook has been rebuilding relations with the Republican. Zuckerberg praised Trump’s response to the July attack in Butler, Pennsylvania: “On a personal note, seeing Donald Trump stand up after being shot in the face and raise his fist with the American flag is one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.” seen in my life,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California. “In some ways, as an American, it’s hard not to be moved by that spirit and that fight, and I think that’s why a lot of people like the guy,” he added.
The businessman has intentionally stayed out of the political dispute, did not ask for a vote for any of the candidates and publicly congratulated the Republican after his electoral victory: “Congratulations to President Trump for a decisive victory. We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country. Looking forward to working with you and your administration,” he wrote on the Threads social network, owned by Meta.
Zuckerberg, on the other hand, also maintains a tense relationship with Elon Musk, owner of the social network X (formerly Twitter) and a great ally of the president-elect. Half seriously, half jokingly, they both challenged each other to a physical fight in a cage, which never took place. Meta included its founder’s love for combat sports in the risk chapter of its brochures and annual reports.
