Meta donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund as tech companies continue to woo Republicans following their powerful showing during last month’s elections.
The donation comes just weeks after Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. The move was largely seen as another effort by Zuckerberg to repair an at-times icy relationship with Trump. Meta banned Trump from Facebook and Instagram following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a decision that prompted fury from the former president. His access to the social media sites was restored in 2023.
“It’s an important time for the future of American Innovation,” a spokesperson for Meta said last month amid reports of the dinner. “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.”
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the donation to the inaugural fund, noting Wednesday that the act breaks with recent precedent from the company. Meta did not donate to Trump’s first inaugural fund in 2017, or to President Joe Biden’s in 2021.
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Zuckerberg declined to endorse any candidate during the recent election. But he had reached out to Trump several times during the course of the campaign, and he publicly praised the former president following the assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“One of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” the Facebook co-founder said in July.
Other tech executives have reached out to the Trump transition in recent weeks, or put in work to appease the president-elect. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — the owner of The Washington Post — defended his decision earlier this month to bar the paper from making any more presidential endorsements.
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Bezos told those gathered at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit he was “actually very optimistic” about the upcoming Trump administration.
“What I’ve seen so far is that he is calmer than he was the first time and more confident, more settled,” the billionaire said.