President-elect Donald Trump dined on Wednesday with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, bringing together the Facebook founder and the former president who was once banned from that social network.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed the meeting in a statement to CBS News, saying that Zuckerberg "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."
Stephen Miller, who has been appointed deputy chief of staff for Trump's second term, said Zuckerberg, like other business leaders, wants to support Trump's economic plans. The tech CEO has been seeking to change his company's perception on the right following a rocky relationship with Trump.
"Mark, obviously, he has his own interest, and he has his own company and he has his own agenda," Miller said in an interview on Fox News about the meeting. "But he's made clear that he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trump's leadership."
Trump was kicked off Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol after determining that his posts had potentially encouraged the violence that occurred that day. The company restored his account in early 2023, but with certain "guardrails." In July, those restrictions were lifted by Meta.
Trump has a combined 65 million followers on Facebook and Instagram.
During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate for president.
Zuckerberg has since taken a more positive stance toward Trump. Earlier this year, he praised Trump's response to his first assassination attempt, calling it "badass." Zuckerberg also complained that senior Biden administration officials pressured Facebook to "censor" some COVID-19 content during the pandemic.
Still, Trump in recent months had continued to attack Zuckerberg publicly. In July, he posted a message on his own social network Truth Social threatening to send election fraudsters to prison in part by citing a nickname he used for the Meta CEO. "ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!" Trump wrote.
The Thanksgiving eve visit also comes as tech mogul Elon Musk has become more influential in Trump's Make America Great Again movement, contributing an estimated $200 million through his political action committee to help elect Trump. Musk is the billionaire owner of the X social network, a competitor to Meta.
Trump's X account, then known as Twitter, was also suspended in January 2021. But his account was reinstated in November 2022 following Musk's purchase of the company. Must reinstated Trump's account after posting a poll asking users whether to do so.
Musk has spent considerable time at Mar-a-Lago since the election, and Trump selected him to lead an outside advisory panel known as the "Department of Government Efficiency" to identify waste with Vivek Ramaswamy, a venture capitalist and former GOP presidential candidate.
Source: CBS News
BDST: 1512 HRS, NOV 28, 2024
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