Meta tech tycoon Mark Zuckerberg was raked over the coals as a "surrender monkey" by The Bulwark's Jonathan Last on Tuesday over his new spate of changes at his company that appear directly calculated to ingratiate himself to President-elect Donald Trump.
This comes after Zuckerberg paid a visit to Trump's estate at Mar-a-Lago, and as a number of tech billionaires are under fire — even from some Trump supporters — as their companies give millions to fund Trump's inauguration festivities.
"Yesterday Zuckerberg appointed Dana White to Meta’s board of directors. What are White’s relative qualifications for such a role? He, uh, manages Ultimate Fighting Championship? LOL no, obviously White’s qualification is that he is one of Donald Trump’s closest friends and top endorsers. He was literally all over the campaign stumping for Trump," wrote Last. Then, Zuckerberg's newly-appointed public policy strategist, former George W. Bush administration official Joel Kaplan, "went onto Donald Trump’s favorite morning show, Fox & Friends, and announced that Facebook is killing its fact-checking program and making its content moderation strategy more like Elon Musk’s Twitter/X regime. Because that has been such a success I’m Ron Burgundy?"
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Zuckerberg is even announcing that the content moderation team will be moved to Texas to combat the impression that the operation is influenced by a liberal jurisdiction, Last noted.
What truly makes this so crazy, Last concluded, is the double standard of how tech CEOs treat administrations.
"In 2021 the Biden administration snubbed Elon Musk by not inviting him to a photo op. Musk was so outraged that he spent $44 billion to purchase a social media platform, and then used that platform to wage unrelenting war against Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the entire Democratic party," he wrote.
By contrast, he said, Zuckerberg "preemptively gave portions of his company over as hostages in the hopes that Trump would let his business live in peace. Before the guy had even been sworn in. Tell me: What’s the point of being worth $209 billion if you can’t play offense against politicians who might target you and your business? Why is Zuckerberg acting like a surrender monkey instead of a titan of industry who has an infinite bankroll and ownership of key platforms?"