Mark Zuckerberg is changing the meta in the age of Trump

At this point it’s pretty clear what it is. donald trump desirous mark zuckerberg. But what does Zuckerberg, who has visited Mar-a-Lago twice since the November election, want from the president-elect?

This is the question I’ve been asking sources inside and outside Meta over the past few days. They all described Mehta’s relationship with the outgoing Biden administration as incredibly hostile. It’s safe to assume that Zuckerberg wants a reset of the MAGA regime. Especially since Trump just threatened to put him in prison for life.

In Trump’s America, the removal of tampons from men’s restrooms on the Meta Campus actually happened. This is as much a business decision as a political one. Destroying ‘woke’ ideology is a central pillar of Trump’s stated mission. Others who, like Amazon, knew they had to play the game, began to get in on the action. Nonetheless, Zuckerberg is transforming Meta to fit these new political realities at a pace rare for a company of his size and influence. Founder Mode.

in conversation with him Joe Rogan In a video on Instagram, Zuckerberg shares a list of issues Trump can help him with. That means fighting other countries tightening their policies on the platform and preventing Apple from dictating how it builds its mobile apps and smart glasses. (critical to Meta’s future) and, perhaps most importantly, ensuring that domestic AI regulation does not slow efforts to crush OpenAI. Elon Musk I got Trump’s ear. But the more time Zuckerberg spends at Mar-a-Lago, the more Sam Altman and tim cook You should be worried.

And then there’s the U.S. government’s lawsuit to break up Meta, which will go to trial in the coming months. After the blur of the last four years, it’s easy to forget that this lawsuit was filed by a Republican FTC chairman, not a Republican, at the end of Trump’s first term. Lina Khan…

Much of the headline reaction last week focused on Zuckerberg’s decision to end Meta’s third-party fact-checking program. Frankly speaking, this was a convenient scapegoat for company executives who never achieved their goal of bringing more neutrality to Facebook and Instagram. Community notes alternative from X Meta wasn’t on the product roadmap before this week, so it will be a while before everyone can actually see it.

The announcement that U.S. arbitrators would be moved from California to Texas was perhaps the most cynical of all. Talk to anyone you know and they will tell you that the majority of mediators already live in Austin.

The hate speech currently allowed on Meta stands out and deserves more scrutiny in the coming weeks. The decision to start recommending political content again marks a 180-degree turn for Zuckerberg. But insiders believe the change that will have the biggest impact on Meta app users is weakening the system for removing content for potential policy violations.

Of all the announcements Mehta made last week, this is the one I think has the least to do with Trump. Meta execs have been signaling for some time that they are aware that they are accidentally removing too much content that doesn’t actually break the rules. If not, I’ve heard it’s one of the following: thatThis is the biggest complaint in user surveys. If done correctly, correcting coordination mistakes may be the only thing that makes everyone happy with Zuckerberg’s announcement.

• CES is now all about deals. Every year, the official CES show (with its spacious exhibition halls and flashy keynotes) feels more like a advertising event and no longer a place for actual product launches. Most of the energy went to private conference rooms and happy hours at Wynn, Aria, and Cosmopolitan. This is where technology executives puzzle CMOs and close deals with partners all week long. Everyone seems to agree that this year at Shadow CES, the show is more alive than ever. The booth on the show floor became a marketing tool to show customers before taking them out for a steak dinner. The challenge for CES organizers will be finding a way to bridge the growing influence of this part of the show with their current business model of charging people to wander through booths filled with smart toasters and concept cars.
• TikTok can get banned: Imagine an alternate world where the Chinese government bans Instagram from operating in the country. mark zuckerberg It’s hiding. This is the situation with ByteDance and its founders. Zhang YimingHe stepped down as CEO after the last US ban attempt but still controls the company. He allowed TikTok to be banned in India and this time he doesn’t seem to care about the app surviving. So why not allow the same thing to happen again?
• Here’s what’s next for Google and OpenAI. Google’s DeepMind division is embarking on “an ambitious project to build generative models that simulate the physical world,” which it believes is on a “critical path toward artificial general intelligence (AI).” Meanwhile, OpenAI is returning to its early roots by starting a “general purpose robotics” team that will build hardware and drive “toward AGI-level intelligence in dynamic, real-world environments.” We may have hit a wall when it comes to scaling text data, but large labs clearly see opportunity in 3D. (See also what Nvidia announced last week.)
• Other headlines you might have missed: Tencent (large investor in Epic Games, Snap, and US tech companies) It was blacklisted by the U.S. Department of Defense for being influenced by the Chinese military. Tim Cook’s gun Last year, compensation increased 18% to $74.6 million. Elon Musk Hosting Trump’s Inauguration Party in DC with Uber free press. Sam Altman His sister filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against him.

Some notable career changes in the world of technology recently include:

• Many changes in the meta: UFC CEO dana whiteformer CEO john Elkann, and Charlie Songhurst I joined the board of directors. Joel Kaplan We are currently implementing policies and communications. After working at Google for a while, I said: Michael Levinson I am back as Vice President of Product at Integrity org. (Good luck!) Director of Human Rights; Roy Austinis leaving. and former DEI Director maxine williams He is currently Head of ‘Accessibility and Participation’.
• Elon Musk’s X appoints two new leaders. Romina Canani Show He is the new Senior Secretary for State Affairs. john ninety I am in charge of ‘Advertising Innovation’.
• Kalista Redmon will join Nvidia as Vice President of “Global AI Initiatives,” where he will “drive adoption of the NVIDIA platform for national and regional AI initiatives.”
• Sophia DominguezSnap’s AR platform director is leaving.

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As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts, especially from those who work at Meta. Reply here and I’ll contact you or send you a secure ping from Signal.