Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Photo: Getty images
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, has called on the incoming administration of US President Donald Trump to intervene to protect US tech companies from significant fines from the European Union. Zuckerberg said this during the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Politico reports.
“I believe that having the strongest companies in the world is a strategic advantage for the US, and it should be part of the national strategy in the future,” he said. Zuckerberg also noted that he is optimistic that the Trump administration will support this issue.
According to Zuckerberg, the EU has imposed fines of more than $30 billion on US tech companies over the past two decades. Last year alone, Meta paid €797 million for violating EU antitrust laws. Zuckerberg called such actions a “tariff” against American companies and criticised the Joe Biden administration for its inaction.
“If another country was harming a strategically important industry for us, the US government would find a way to put pressure on it. However, in the case of technology companies, the opposite happened: our government opened the door to attacks from the EU,” he said.
Experts believe that Zuckerberg’s participation in the podcast of Joe Rogan, one of the most popular influencers among Trump supporters, is an attempt to establish relations with the future administration.
Zuckerberg also announced that Meta was ending its third-party fact-checking programme and moving to a “community of notes” model. This decision was perceived as an attempt to appease the Trump administration, which has criticised Meta’s moderation policy as having a “left-wing bias”.
In addition, Meta announced the end of programmes related to diversity, equality and inclusion, which, according to the company, reflects the “changed legal and political landscape”.
These moves may be part of Meta’s broader strategy to maintain its position in a time of increasing international regulation.
