Tech

Mark Zuckerberg is 'very keen to play an active role' in Trump's tech policymaking, Meta exec says

Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg
Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg recently had dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Emily Elconin and Alex Wong/Getty Images
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Elon Musk already has Donald Trump's ear on policy discussions — and it sounds like Mark Zuckerberg wants in on that too.

"Mark is very keen to play an active role in the debates that any administration needs to have about maintaining America's leadership in the technological sphere" and "particularly the pivotal role that AI will play," Meta's president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, told journalists during a call on Monday, The Verge reported.

Zuckerberg and Trump have sparred before. But they've been in contact recently, meeting for dinner last week at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

Clegg declined to share details of their talks but said that "the conversations at this stage are clearly fairly high level."

Zuckerberg and Trump met on several occasions during Trump's presidency. Trump has been highly critical of Facebook and Zuckerberg over the years, going so far as to say he'd jail Zuckerberg if reelected.

Facebook suspended Trump's account in 2021 over his comments during the Capitol riot; Zuckerberg said at the time that "the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great." Two years later, the company reinstated Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Unlike Musk, Zuckerberg didn't endorse a presidential candidate this year. In an interview, the Meta CEO said Trump's reaction to being shot at a Pennsylvania rally this summer was "badass."

In his call with reporters, Clegg also discussed Meta's moderation efforts — over which the social-media company has faced criticism from both sides of the aisle — saying the company "overdid it a bit" during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We know that when enforcing our policies, our error rates are still too high, which gets in the way of the free expression that we set out to enable," he said. "Too often harmless content gets taken down or restricted and too many people get penalized unfairly."

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Sarah Jackson
Sarah Jackson was a senior reporter at Business Insider who covers tech and trending business news, with a focus on the workplace. She has covered The Great Resignation, workplace trends, remote work and RTO, tech layoffs, the job search, and more. Before joining Business Insider in 2021, Sarah also wrote for places like Inc., NBC News, and The Today Show. She received her B.A. in journalism from NYU.Some of Sarah's top stories include:Workers are 'epiphany-quitting' their jobs after the pandemic forced them to rethink everything about their livesJob postings can reveal signs of trouble ahead with a potential employer or role. Here are the red flags that candidates should look for.The 'hushed hybrid' work schedule is the latest way employees are getting around a return to the officeNew York City employers are now required to list salary ranges in their job posts. Here's how that will affect candidates and companies.as-told-to: I do 'Bare Minimum Mondays' at work to help beat the 'Sunday scaries' and avoid burnout. It's completely changed my life and how I approach my job.