Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Donates $1 Million To Donald Trump's Inaugural Fund

Meta Platforms, under CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has made a $1 million donation to US President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural fund, The WSJ reported. The donation follows an election cycle where Trump openly threatened repercussions for any perceived meddling by technology leaders. He called for Zuckerberg to “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he tried to interfere with the 2024 election.

Over the years, the Zuckerberg-Trump relationship has been a rollercoaster. From criticisms of Trump's immigration policies in 2017 to Facebook's suspension of Trump's account following the January 6 Capitol riot, their interactions have swung between cooperation and confrontation. In 2021, Trump also accused Zuckerberg of trying to rig the election against him.

Neither Zuckerberg nor Meta contributed to Trump's 2017 inaugural fund or President Biden's in 2021.

But in recent years, Zuckerberg has strategically worked to bridge divides with Republicans, hosting dinners and meetings with key figures, including Trump at Mar-a-Lago. At one such dinner, he demonstrated Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses and gifted a pair to the president-elect. This meeting was part of a series of discussions between Zuckerberg's advisers and Trump's team, including incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Sen. Marco Rubio.

The $1 million donation was reportedly decided upon before this meeting and came amid an effort by Zuckerberg to reposition Meta as neutral in political matters. In the past, Republicans accused Zuckerberg of partisan behaviour, particularly during the 2020 election, when he donated $400 million to support election infrastructure. Zuckerberg denied the claims and said the funds were a one-time pandemic-related contribution.

Zuckerberg has also taken steps to align more closely with Republican concerns. He criticised the Biden administration for pressuring Facebook to moderate COVID-19 content. 

Publicly, Trump's opinion of Zuckerberg has varied, ranging from criticism over past disputes to recent praise for Zuckerberg's neutrality in election matters. The two have found common ground in recent months, with Zuckerberg lauding Trump's response to the assassination attempt on him as “badass.”