Updated
2024-11-28T21:46:35Z
- President-elect Donald Trump and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg might be cooling their long-simmering feud.
- Zuckerberg and Trump shared a Thanksgiving eve meal at Mar-a-Lago.
- Here's a look at the timeline of Trump and Zuckerberg's rivalry.
Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg breaking bread together could signal a new chapter in their relationship.
On Wednesday night, Trump and Zuckerberg shared a Thanksgiving eve meal at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump previously threatened to jail the Meta CEO if he won the 2024 election, illustrating just how important their tête-à-tête might be.
Trump and his conservative allies have long criticized Zuckerberg, putting the head of one of the nation's largest companies under a microscope at a critical time.
"It's an important time for the future of American Innovation. 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," a spokesperson for Meta previously said in a statement to Business Insider, confirming the dinner.
Meta is facing an antitrust trial next year. There's bipartisan support for a major rewrite of Section 230, a law that shields Big Tech companies from liability. Zuckerberg has previously supported changing Section 230, but his company could be dramatically affected by how the law is changed.
Like many in Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg quickly expressed concern for Trump after he narrowly survived a July assassination attempt. Trump reciprocated by falsely claiming Zuckerberg endorsed him, but that was a major departure from threatening to jail the tech executive if he tried to influence the 2024 campaign.
Here's a look at how their relationship evolved over the years.
Trump and Zuckerberg have met on multiple occasions.
They had a previously unannounced meeting at the White House in September 2019.
"Mark is in Washington, D.C., meeting with policymakers to hear their concerns and talk about future internet regulation. He also had a good, constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House today," a Meta spokesperson said at the time.
"Nice meeting with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook in the Oval Office today," Trump said of their meeting.
Trump and Zuckerberg met again the following month.
Trump, Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel had a secret dinner in October 2019.
Thiel, who cofounded PayPal and Palantir, was the first outside investor in Facebook; he was a vocal supporter of Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
"We talked about a number of things that were on his mind, and some of the topics that you read about in the news around our work," Zuckerberg said of the dinner in an interview with "CBS This Morning."
Zuckerberg was in DC to testify before Congress about Facebook's cryptocurrency, Libra.
Trump has said he would've banned Facebook while president, but Zuckerberg "kept calling" him.
In 2021, Trump praised Nigeria for banning Twitter.
"More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech — all voices should be heard," Trump said in a statement at the time.
"Perhaps I should have done it while I was President," he added. "But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was."
Nigeria lifted its ban on Twitter after seven months.
As of July 2024, the company has lifted its final restrictions on Trump's account in the run-up to the November presidential election.
In July, Meta removed the additional guardrails that remained in place on Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts following their reinstatement.
"In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis," Meta said in a statement at the time. "As a result, former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties."
Meta added that it would "review accounts subject to this protocol on a periodic basis to determine whether heightened suspension penalties for Community Standards violations remain appropriate."
Trump has expressed interest in suing Facebook.
"We should be suing Google and Facebook and all that," he said in a June 2019 interview with Fox Business. "Which, perhaps we will."
Trump made the remarks in the context of fines the European Union has levied against big tech firms like Google for breaching the bloc's antitrust rules.
In 2021, Trump did just that.
Trump filed suit against Facebook, Google, Twitter, and the companies' respective CEOs in July 2021, alleging they unlawfully censor him and other conservatives.
In May 2022, Trump's lawsuit against Twitter was dismissed.
So far in 2024, Zuckerberg has said Trump's reaction to being shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was "badass."
Zuckerberg expressed awe over Trump's response to getting shot.
"Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I've ever seen in my life," Zuckerberg told Bloomberg of the attempted Trump assassination. "On some level as an American, it's like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that's why a lot of people like the guy."
But the Meta CEO said he wasn't planning to endorse any candidate for president this election cycle.
Trump had threatened to imprison Zuckerberg if he's elected in November.
Trump says, if elected, he'll "pursue Election Fraudsters" and they "will be sent to prison for long periods of time."
"We already know who you are. DON'T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!" Trump wrote on Truth Social in July.
Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated roughly $400 million to nonprofits in 2020 to help state and local governments conduct a presidential election during an unprecedented pandemic. Republicans have remained furious over the donations. Meta has repeatedly tried to repair relationships, but many in the GOP remain incensed even though there's no evidence that the funds favored Democrats.
Amid continued criticism of his donations, Zuckerberg announced he would not make a similar contribution ahead of 2024.
Trump mentioned Zuckerberg in his book, "Save America," and didn't mince words.
Politico reported that Trump included a picture of himself with the Meta CEO, with the caption, "He would bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT."
It's unclear when Trump wrote the caption, though he appears to be referring to a $420 million contribution Zuckerberg and his wife made to fund election infrastructure in 2020.
Zuckerberg quickly congratulated Trump on his 2024 win
Like other major CEOs, Zuckerberg quickly praised Trump after it became apparent that the former president had won the 2024 election.
"Congratulations to President Trump on a decisive victory. We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country," Zuckerberg wrote on Threads on November 6. "Looking forward to working with you and your administration."
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