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Mark Zuckerberg Meta has donated $1 million to Donald Trump's inauguration events fund in the latest initiative from the social media platform aimed at mending relations with the US president-elect.
The donation marks the first time the Facebook owner has contributed to the inauguration fund and comes after recent maneuvers to gain his support. Trumpwho previously accused the platform of censoring right-wing voices and threatened to imprison its CEO.
Last week, Meta's head of global affairs Nick Clegg She admitted that the company “overdone it a little bit.” When moderating content related to the pandemic, an admission that appears intended to allay the concerns of the president-elect.
Clegg also said Zuckerberg He was eager to play “an active role in the discussions any administration needs to have about maintaining America's leadership in technology,” including in areas like artificial intelligence.
Silicon Valley executives, which Trump once viewed as a left-leaning constituency, have been courting him since he won the election last month.
Leading technology figures are also finding roles in his management. Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, has become one of Trump's closest advisors, while David Sachs, a Silicon Valley investor in Musk's inner circle, has been named as Trump's top advisor. Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency Tsar For the next administration.
Trump and Zuckerberg had a tense relationship, which worsened when Meta labeled and deleted some of the then-president's content in 2020, before suspending his account in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
In July, Trump warned that if elected, he would “go after election fraudsters” and send them “to prison for long periods of time,” adding: “Zuckerbucks, be careful!” In a clear reference to the CEO. That month, dead Lifting restrictions on Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Earlier this year, Zuckerberg said he wanted Meta to be politically “neutral,” and the company has downplayed political content across its apps.
However, in the months before the election, Zuckerberg called Trump an “idiot” over his response to an assassination attempt and wrote a letter to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee accusing the Biden administration of repeatedly pressuring Meta to “censor” certain matters. Covid-19 content during the pandemic.
More recently, since his election victory, he had dinner with Trump at his home in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. Meta then said Zuckerberg was “grateful” for the invitation, adding: “This is an important time for the future of American innovation.”
The donation was first reported in The Wall Street Journal.
