Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund in latest attempt to mend relationship

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it has donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund. 

It appears to be the latest attempt by the Meta boss to build a closer relationship with the incoming president. 

The donation comes just weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump privately at Mar-a-Lago. 

A Meta spokesperson confirmed the offering Thursday, Dec. 12. 

Stephen Miller, who has been appointed deputy chief of staff for Trump’s second term, has said that Zuckerberg, like other business leaders, wants to support Trump’s economic plans. 

The tech CEO has been seeking to change his company’s perception on the right following a rocky relationship with Trump. 

Trump was kicked off Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The company restored his account in early 2023. 

During the 2024 campaign, Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate for president but has voiced a more positive stance toward Trump. 

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg praised Trump’s response to his first ass@ssination attempt. 

Still, Trump had continued to attack Zuckerberg publicly during the campaign. 

In July, he posted a message on his own social network Truth Social threatening to send election fraudsters to prison in part by citing a nickname he used for the Meta CEO. “ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!” Trump wrote. 

Corporations have traditionally made up a large share of donors to presidential inaugurals, with an exception in 2009, when then-President-elect Barack Obama refused to accept corporate donations. He reversed course for his second inaugural in 2013. 

Facebook did not donate to either Biden’s 2021 inaugural or Trump’s 2017 inaugural. 

Google donated $285,000 each to Trump first inaugural and Biden’s inaugural. 

Inaugural committees are required to disclose the source of their fundraising, but not how they spend the money.