On Wednesday (November 27th), US President elect Donald Trump had dinner with Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg at Mar-a-Lago Estate in Florida.
According to the latest report, Stephen Miller, who has been appointed as Trump's deputy chief of staff for his second term, confirmed their meeting and said that Zuckerberg, like other business leaders, wants to support Trump's economic plan. "Obviously, Mark has his own interests, his own company, and his own agenda. But he has made it clear that he wants to support the American national rejuvenation under Trump's leadership
In addition, a spokesperson for Meta confirmed that Zuckerberg and Trump met on Wednesday and stated that Zuckerberg was invited to dinner with the President elect and other members of his team to discuss the upcoming Trump administration. The spokesperson did not provide a detailed explanation of the topics discussed in the meeting, but added that Zuckerberg will not stay for Thanksgiving.
Relationship easing?
For many years, the relationship between Trump and Zuckerberg has been strained, especially after the Capitol riot in early 2021 led to Trump's Facebook account being banned, making their relationship even more tense.
After the violent intrusion of Trump supporters into the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Trump's official account was kicked out of Facebook. Although the company later restored Trump's account in early 2023, Trump has not posted on Facebook since then.
During the 2024 US election, Zuckerberg's attitude towards Trump began to become subtle. Although Zuckerberg did not explicitly state which presidential candidate he supports, he has taken a more positive attitude towards Trump.
In July of this year, Trump posted on his social network Truth Social threatening to send election fraudsters to jail, specifically naming Zuckerberg.
Interestingly, after being threatened by Trump, Zuckerberg rarely praised Trump in a television interview, praising his extraordinary courage in the face of the assassination and stating that the scene was "shocking and a rare feat in his life". He also complained that senior officials of the Biden government pressed Facebook to review some content of COVID-19 during the epidemic.
When it comes to the relationship between Zuckerberg and Trump, it reminds people of another tech tycoon, Elon Musk. Currently, Musk is becoming increasingly influential in Trump's MAGA campaign, and during the election, he contributed approximately $200 million through his political action committee to help Trump win.
Musk is still the boss of social network X, and the rise of X after Trump's victory is undoubtedly a huge threat to Facebook.