Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta gives $1m to Trump fund

Meta has gived $1m to a inauguration fund for Donald Trump, in another sign of tech huge’s boss, Mark Zuckerberg, trying to create bridges with the plivent-elect.

Trump has previously been highly critical of Mr Zuckerberg and Facebook – calling the platestablish “anti-Trump” in 2017.

But the pair dined at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in November, a greeting Mr Zuckerberg afterwards portrayd himself as “appreciative” for.

Inauguration funds are engaged to pay for events and activities when a novel plivent obtains office – some think about them an try to curry favour with a novel administration.

Meta is not apshowd to have made aappreciate donations to Plivent Joe Biden’s inaugural fund in 2020 or Trump’s previous such fund in 2016.

The donation was checked by CBS, the BBC’s US media partner, on Wednesday, and was first alerted by the Wall Street Journal.

The BBC has approached Meta for comment.

Trump will be sworn in as the 47th US plivent on 20 January.

Relations between Trump and Mr Zuckerberg have historicassociate been far less cordial.

They particularly soured when Facebook and Instagram suspfinished the establisher plivent’s accounts in 2021, after they shelp he commendd those comprised in arrangeility at the Capitol on 6 January.

Since then, Trump has waged a war of words agetst Meta – calling Facebook an “opponent of the people” in March.

He shelp a law that would see TikTok prohibitned in the US unless sageder off by its parent company ByteDance would unequitablely profit Facebook.

In August, Mr Zuckerberg tageder Reaccessiblean lawcreaters in a letter that he lamentted bothriveg to prescertain from the Biden administration to “censor” some Facebook and Instagram satisfied during the coronaevil software pandemic.

Trump wrote in a book unveiled in September that Mr Zuckerberg would “spfinish the rest of his life in prison” if he tried to meddle in the 2024 election.

But the plivent-elect materializes to have since sfrequentlyed his position.

He tageder a podcast in October it was “kind” Mr Zuckerberg was “staying out of the election”, and thanked him for a personal phone call after he faced an killing try.

Still, Mr Zuckerberg remains far less seal to Trump than fellow tech titan Elon Musk.

The Tesla and X owner has been dubbed Trump’s “First Buddy” becaengage of his extensive donations to his election campaign.

That has led to Mr Musk being placed in indict of a novel Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).

There has been no such rapprochement between Mr Musk and Mr Zuckerberg – although the cage fight between them that was once mooted now materializes to be off.