Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has visited Donald Trump at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, further evidence of the apparent thawing in their once frosty relations.
The president-elect already has a close, high-profile relationship with another of the leading figures in tech, X owner Elon Musk.
Historically, though, there has been no such closeness between Trump and Mr Zuckerberg – with Trump barred from Facebook and Instagram after the Capitol riots, and Trump threatening the Meta boss with jail if he interfered in the 2024 presidential election.
However, there has recently been evidence those strained relations are improving, culminating in Mr Zuckerberg dining with the president-elect at his Florida mansion.
“Mark was grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming administration,” a Meta spokesperson told the BBC.
“It’s an important time for the future of American Innovation,” the statement added.
Jail threat
In August, Trump wrote in a book Mr Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he attempted to interfere in the 2024 US election. But the president-elect subsequently softened his position, telling a podcast in October it was “nice” Mr Zuckerberg was “staying out of the election”, and thanking him for a personal phone call after he faced an assassination attempt.
There have have also been indications Mr Zuckerberg is attempting to be more accommodating towards America’s incoming president.
Trump was thrown off Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram in 2021 for what the company called his “praise for people engaged in violence at the Capitol on January 6.” But that suspension has since been lifted.
In August this year, Mr Zuckerberg spoke of his regret at de-promoting content relating to allegations about Joe Biden’s son Hunter, which had been a right-wing talking point in the US prior to the 2020 presidential election. He also said he would make no more contributions to support electoral infrastructure, after a $400m (£302m) donation in 2020 was viewed by some online as a way of skirting donation limits.
Mr Zuckerberg said his donations had been designed to be non-partisan, and his goal was to be neutral in elections.
Big tech buddies
It is not known what the two men discussed over dinner at Trump’s Florida home. Meta has though been facing increasing regulation in recent years, including an ongoing antitrust case brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2020. Even so, Mr Zuckerberg’s apparently improving relations with the president-elect have been totally eclipsed by Trump’s closeness to Elon Musk.
Trump’s close-knit relationship with the X owner resulted in more than $100m (£79m) in campaign donations, along with endorsements from the billionaire and his superfans. Their relationship is so tight it has caused some to dub Musk his “First Buddy”, a play on the president’s wife being named First Lady.
It has ultimately led to the billionaire being placed in charge of a new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which may give him not only influence over government policy, but the very regulation threatening his business empire. However, Mr Zuckerberg and Mr Musk have a longstanding rivalry.
Some of their disagreements stem from serious business matters, such as a failed collaboration in 2016 when a SpaceX rocket exploding while carrying a Facebook satellite. Their beef rumbled on eventually becoming a war of words over a potential cagefight. Though neither have backed down publicly, it seems unlikely the bout of the billionaires will actually come to pass.
