Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has confirmed a $1 million donation to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund.
The move appears to be an effort by Mark Zuckerberg to mend relations with the incoming president. This comes shortly after Zuckerberg’s private meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
A Meta spokesperson announced the donation on Thursday, December 12. According to Stephen Miller, Trump’s newly appointed deputy chief of staff, Zuckerberg and other business leaders are supporting Trump’s economic initiatives.
Meta has been working to improve its standing with conservative audiences after a turbulent relationship with Trump. The former president was banned from Facebook following the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, though his account was reinstated in early 2023.
While Zuckerberg did not endorse a candidate during the 2024 campaign, he has expressed more favourable views toward Trump. Earlier this year, he even praised Trump’s response to his first assassination attempt.
Despite this, Trump has continued to criticise Zuckerberg publicly, including a post on Truth Social in July where he threatened to prosecute “election fraudsters” and warned the Meta CEO with the nickname “ZUCKERBUCKS.”
Corporate donations have historically been a significant source of funding for presidential inaugurations, except in 2009 when Barack Obama declined corporate donations for his first inauguration. However, he allowed them for his 2013 inauguration.
Unlike Google, which contributed $285,000 to both Trump’s 2017 inaugural and Biden’s 2021 inaugural, Facebook did not donate to either event.
While inaugural committees are required to disclose their donors, they are not obligated to reveal how the funds are spent.
