Zuckerberg meets with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
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Zuckerberg Seeks Role in Trump Administration
Above: Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the US House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, 2018. Image copyright: Yasin Ozturk/Contributor/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The Facts
Coming on the heels of a meeting last week at Mar-a-Lago between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and US Pres.-elect Donald Trump, Meta's head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, confirmed on Monday that Zuckerberg wants to play an active role in shaping tech policies in the upcoming administration.
This comes after Zuckerberg in August wrote a letter to Congress expressing regret over Meta content moderation policies related to the COVID pandemic. Clegg said sometimes Meta had overstepped in removing innocent content.
The Spin
Left narrative
This partnership shows CEOs have decided they have no choice but to bend the knee to Trump. But it also raises concerns about the concentration of power between big tech and government, potentially compromising content moderation standards and democratic safeguards that were previously in place.
Right narrative
The collaboration between Zuckerberg and Trump is a win for conservative users, who are tired of being censored, and Meta, which can ensure it maintains influence over tech regulation and AI development while protecting itself from potential regulatory threats.