Vice President J.D. Vance said during an interview on Sunday that big tech companies were still “in the dark” when pressed about the presence of several tech CEOs at President Trump's inauguration, as well as… Millions of dollars in donations The group performed en masse for the inaugural events.
“The richest men in the world were in the Capitol on Inauguration Day. The presidents of Amazon, Google, and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. In August, you told us that Google and Facebook were too big. “We have to follow Teddy Roosevelt's approach. Don't let them control what people are allowed to say. “Now they've donated to Trump's inauguration, are you still going to break up Big Tech?” CBS News' Margaret Brennan asked Vance, before noting the seating arrangements on Inauguration Day.
Brennan's question comes at a time when the presence of top tech executives has drawn reactions from several media outlets, e.g MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. These CEOs included Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Apple's Tim Cook, Google's Sundar Pichai, and X's Elon Musk.
“We fundamentally believe that Big Tech has too much power, and there are two ways they can do that. They can either respect the constitutional rights of Americans — they can stop engaging in censorship, and if they don't, you can be unable to do that,” he said. Vance: “I'm pretty sure Donald Trump's leadership is not going to look at them very kindly.”
Vice President J.D. Vance told Sydney that big tech companies are “still in the dark,” despite their donations to President Trump's inauguration festivities. (Screenshot/CBS)
Brennan followed up by asking if the CEOs still knew about it.
“They are fully aware,” Vance replied.
The large donations and attendance at Trump's inauguration were a major departure for Big Tech, which largely imposed temporary bans on Trump's public profiles in 2020 across their social media platforms. These companies have also become more critical of the Biden administration, expressing their dissatisfaction with the White House's attempts at censorship.
Zuckerberg specifically announced that Facebook and Instagram will end their fact-checking mechanism and use a community feedback system from now on.
Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Jeff Bezos and Sundar Pichai stand before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, Monday, January 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Click here for more media and cultural coverage
The group's presence at Trump's inauguration was important, as was CNN's presence Jake Tapper expressed his regret On Monday that the United States was about to “enter the age of deepfakes, all kinds of disinformation and the degree to which these five gentlemen play a role or don't play a role will be pivotal in terms of where the American people stand in the Four.” Years from now, in terms of understanding what is right and what is wrong.”
Vance also appears to argue that the presence of tech CEOs at Trump's inauguration was inconsequential, noting that many attendees did not donate to the inaugural festivities.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“They got very good seats,” CBS' Brennan said.
“They didn't have as good seats as my mom and a lot of the other people who were there to support us,” Vance said.
