Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta donates $1M to Trump’s inaugural fund
Meta has donated $1 million to Donald Trump’s inaugural fund amid CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s push to curry favor with the president-elect more than a month before he takes office.
The $1.6-trillion owner of Facebook and Instagram confirmed the donation to The Post following a report late on Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal indicating that Zuckerberg’s company, which has for the most part stayed out of presidential races, departed from past practice.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment further.
Last month, Zuckerberg paid a visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
The two men reportedly had dinner — during which Trump was gifted a pair of Ray Ban Smart Glasses by the tech mogul.
Before the dinner, Zuckerberg’s deputies informed Trump aides that Meta planned to make the $1 million donation to the inaugural fund, according to the Journal.
Meta did not donate to Trump’s inaugural fund in 2017 — nor did it give to outgoing President Joe Biden’s inaugural fund four years later, public records cited by the Journal show.
Zuckerberg, whose social media platforms banned the president-elect in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 rioting at the US Capitol, has sought to rehabilitation his relationship with Trump in recent months by holding at least two private phone conversations over the summer.
The Facebook founder also publicly praised Trump following the July assassination attempt during which the president-elect was seen pumping his fist in defiance with blood dripping down his face — a reaction that Zuckerberg called “badass.”
The warmer ties are a study in contrast compared to the previous election cycle, when Trump floated the idea of imprisoning Zuckerberg after he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated around $400 million to nonprofits designed to facilitate voting during the pandemic.
Trump and his supporters accused the Meta boss of using “Zuckerbucks” to help Democrats, but the tech mogul denied this.
Zuckerberg and Chan have sought to make inroads with Republicans by hiring GOP strategist Brian Baker, who was given the task of explaining the $400 million donation in 2020.
In August, Zuckerberg told the House Judiciary Committee in a letter that it was improper for the Biden administration to pressure Facebook to censor COVID-19-related content.
Zuckerberg also pledged to GOP lawmakers that he would not make additional donations to boost election infrastructure.
“My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another — or to even appear to be playing a role,” Zuckerberg wrote.
The Post has sought comment from the Trump transition team.
Zuckerberg is one of several tech executives who are looking to make nice with Trump just weeks before he begins his second term.
Last week, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, said he was “very optimistic” about a second Trump term because of the incoming president’s pro-business, anti-regulation agenda.
Bezos, who has also been a Trump foil, blocked his newspaper’s editorial board from publishing an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris less than two weeks before the election — sparking several resignations at the newspaper as well as a wave of subscriber cancellations.