Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, a spokesperson for the social media giant confirmed to CBS News Wednesday evening.
The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
This decision comes two weeks after that of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. journey in Florida and dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
At the time, Trump adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News that Zuckerberg had “made clear that he wants to support America’s national renewal under Trump’s leadership.”
Trump was deleted from Facebook following the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, when it was determined that his messages potentially encouraged the violence that occurred that day.
The company restored your account early 2023, but with certain “safeguards”. In July, these restrictions were raised by Meta.
Trump has a total of 65 million followers on Facebook and Instagram.
In August, Zuckerberg submitted a letter to Congress claiming that the Biden administration in 2021 “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.” He called it “false pressure from the government” and said he would oppose any similar efforts in the future.
Silicon Valley is worried about what kind of treatment it might receive from a second Trump administration, and this donation could be a sign of an attempt by Zuckerberg to ease those tensions.
Trump’s choice The appointment of Brendan Carr, a prominent critic of big tech, to head the Federal Communications Commission has potentially heightened these concerns.
CBS News has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment on the donation.
