Big Tech companies that censored and skewed content against former President Donald Trump are now trying to mend fences before the president-elect returns to the White House in January.
In moves that appear to be preemptive efforts to stave off antitrust lawsuits and the loss of lucrative federal government contracts during the second Trump Administration, Big Tech giants are not only meeting with President-elect Trump, but also donating money and airtime:
- Amazon has donated $1 million to Trump’s 2025 inaugural fund, which will take place on January 20 at the U.S. Capitol.
- Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) has also donated $1 million to the inaugural fund.
- Amazon will reportedly provide a $1 million in-kind donation by broadcasting Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20 on Prime Video.
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all congratulated Trump the day after his election.
- Zuckerberg had a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
- Bezos is slated to meet with Trump with Trump next week.
Meta and Zuckerberg did not donate to Trump’s 2017 inaugural fund, according to the Wall Street Journal.
There’s a lot at stake for Big Tech when Trump takes office. Both Bezos’ space company Blue Origin and Amazon have substantial government contracts, which could be at risk if faced with a hostile administration.
Lawsuits also pose a threat to Big Tech bigwigs. As a candidate, Trump said he would sue Google, because its search engine was attempting to interfere in the election by promoting only negative stories about him and positive ones about his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Likewise, in October, Candidate Trump filed a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint accusing Bezos’ publication, The Washington Post, of similar efforts to influence the election.
Meta banned Trump from its Facebook and Instagram platforms following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, but later removed restrictions from his accounts in July during the 2024 election campaign. During the Zuckerbucks election-related scandal in 2020, Trump threatened to send the Meta CEO to prison for life if he interfered with the 2024 presidential election.
Antitrust charges are a threat to Big Tech, as well. The Justice Department is already working to force Google to sell its Chrome search engine. And, under Trump, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is expected to continue looking into potential antitrust violations by Meta, Amazon and Microsoft. Apple may receive closer antitrust scrutiny as well.
Editor's Note: This piece was originally published on MRCTV.org.
