'Meta' Zuckerberg, This Time Pro-Trump... "Going to the Inauguration"

by Kwon Jaehee

Published 12 Jan.2025 11:46(KST)

▲ Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms Photo by Yonhap News

CEOs of major US IT companies such as OpenAI and Meta Platforms will attend the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Donald Trump on the 20th.

Bloomberg News reported on the 12th (local time) that "famous big tech leaders plan to attend Trump's inauguration," evaluating that "this signals the industry is trying to strengthen relations with President-elect Trump."

According to Bloomberg, a spokesperson for OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, stated that CEO Sam Altman plans to attend the inauguration.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms, Facebook's parent company, is also reported to plan to attend the inauguration, citing an anonymous source.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will attend several side events of the inauguration. Uber also plans to hold an inauguration party in Washington D.C. jointly with X (formerly Twitter), a social media company led by Elon Musk, and media company The Free Press.

Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US, was invited to inauguration events including the presidential dinner, the company said.

Recently, ahead of President-elect Trump's inauguration, a series of donations from big tech companies have continued.

Major big tech companies such as Apple, Amazon, Meta Platforms, OpenAI, Uber, Google, and Microsoft each donated $1 million to the Trump Inaugural Committee.

During his first term, President-elect Trump clashed with Silicon Valley over issues such as immigration policy and online content regulation. In particular, Trump expressed anger towards Zuckerberg and Amazon's Jeff Bezos.

In response, Meta and Amazon showed a rapid change in attitude, not only donating to the inauguration but also abolishing 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion' (DEI) policies.

Zuckerberg, who had an uncomfortable relationship with President-elect Trump for years, is now considered to have reached the peak of his 'pro-Trump' stance by placing Trump allies in key positions at Meta and removing third-party fact-checking on Facebook and Instagram.

Altman had previously donated to President Joe Biden's re-election campaign but also donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund this time.

Altman is currently involved in a legal dispute over OpenAI's transition to a for-profit company with Musk, who has emerged as one of Trump's closest allies.

In a recent interview, he said he does not believe Musk will abuse political power as co-chair of the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the new administration to harass business competitors.

At OpenAI, not only Altman but also President Greg Brockman and Chief Product Officer (CPO) Kevin Weil will attend the inauguration. It has been confirmed that OpenAI has contracted with a lobbying firm led by Jeff Miller from Trump's camp.