‘Grateful’: Mark Zuckerberg bends the knee in trip to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

The CEO of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has visited President-elect Donald Trump in an apparent attempt to make peace with him.

The CEO of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has visited President-elect Donald Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in an apparent attempt to make peace with the person who quite recently threatened him with imprisonment.

Mark Zuckerberg has yet to comment, publicly, on his visit to Mr Trump’s resort.

“It’s an important time for the future of American innovation,” a spokesperson for Meta told multiple media outlets.

“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.”

Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Reuters

The New York Times has reported that Mr Zuckerberg’s visit was initiated by him, rather than Mr Trump or his staff.

“Mark Zuckerberg has been very clear about his desire to be a supporter of and a partnership in this change that we’re seeing all around America,” said Stephen Miller, a top Trump staffer who has been tapped to be the deputy White House chief of staff.

“Mark Zuckerberg, like so many business leaders, understands that President Trump is an agent of change, an agent of prosperity.

“And so business leaders, CEOs everywhere, they want to be an element, a supporter, a booster of making our economy prosperous, delivering for American workers and making sure that America is the most powerful, wealthiest, freest nation on the face of the earth.”

Mr Miller suggested Mr Zuckerberg was keen to “support the national renewal of America under President Trump’s leadership”.

Stephen Miller. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

Mr Zuckerberg reportedly joined Mr Trump for dinner at Mar-a-Lago.

The 40-year-old chief executive of Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has been carefully trying to mend ties with Trump.

Both men have had a strained relationship over the years, with Facebook being among social media networks that banned Trump after the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

It was not immediately clear whether billionaire Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who previously challenged Mr Zuckerberg to a cage match fight before backing down, also attended the dinner, though he has frequently been present at Mar-a-Lago recently.

Trump has already formed a close alliance with fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk. Picture: AFP

While treading cautiously in Trump’s first term, tech titans were quick to laud the Republican’s election victory this time, with Mr Zuckerberg among those who offered his congratulations.

Before the election, Mr Zuckerberg stopped election-related philanthropy and Meta modified its algorithms to reduce political content.

That is in contrast to Mr Musk’s behaviour with Twitter. The owner of the site that is now called X was an extremely active supporter of Mr Trump, and appears to have made use of his platform’s algorithm to help the Republican candidate win.

Mr Zuckerberg had previously contributed large sums to fund non-profits working to support US electoral infrastructure during the Covid pandemic, something Mr Trump had framed as an attempt to help the Democrats.

– with AFP