Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg joined United States President-elect Donald Trump for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Wednesday, with an adviser to the future president saying the tech billionaire “Want to support America’s national renewal.”
The 40-year-old tech tycoon, who leads the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has been carefully trying to mend relations with Trump.
The two men have had a strained relationship for years, with Facebook among the social media networks that banned Trump after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
But on Wednesday, a Metta spokeswoman said: “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.”
In a statement, the spokesperson added that this is an important time for the future of American innovation.
It was not immediately clear whether billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who previously challenged Zuckerberg to a cage match fight, also attended the dinner, though he has been absent since the election. – have often been present in Laos.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, said Fox News On Wednesday that Zuckerberg “has been very clear about his desire to support and participate in the change that we are seeing across America.”
“He has made it clear that he wants to support the national renewal of America under President Trump,” Miller said in a televised interview.
Treading cautiously in Trump’s first term, tech titans were quick to applaud the Republican’s electoral victory this time around, with Zuckerberg among those congratulating him.
Before the election, Zuckerberg blocked election-related philanthropy and Meta modified its algorithm to reduce political content.
Zuckerberg previously contributed large sums of money to fund nonprofits working to support US election infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The donations were seized by Trump after his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, falsely alleging that they were part of a conspiracy to alter the election.