Mark Zuckerberg, the head of META, and Donald Trump, the recently elected president of the United States, have had an almost bitter relationship, but now there are signs of improvement. Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, has donated $1 million to the 47th President-elect Trump's inauguration fund.

The move is seen as an attempt to improve and smooth relations between Zuckerberg and Trump. This is expected to have a significant impact on the technology business industry itself.

Meta's donation has been confirmed by various media outlets. Experts are of the opinion that Zuckerberg is trying to mend the long bitter relationship with Trump, who is preparing to enter the White House from January 20. Trump, who won the 2016 presidential election by taking advantage of some of Facebook's weaknesses, declared Facebook an 'anti-Trump' platform in 2017. 

Even during the start of the 2024 election campaign, the BBC mentioned that he threatened to imprison Zuckerberg for life if he tried to influence his campaign by being an enemy of the Facebook people. Why is Zuckerberg, the 40-year-old owner of Meta, who is the fourth richest person in the world with about 218 billion US dollars, leaning towards Trump? 

It is estimated that Zuckerberg has started to improve his relationship with Trump because of Meta's board member and 'venture capitalist' Mark Anderson, who has been supporting Trump's election campaign since 2016. Anderson is also a key figure in Trump's latest White House entry preparations. American media have mentioned that he mediated between Zuckerberg and Trump.

Zuckerberg did not personally donate to Trump's campaign. He also did not donate to the inauguration of Trump and Joe Biden, who were previously elected. This time, the donation given for the preparation of the inauguration is the first major financial support from Meta on behalf of Trump. The relationship between Zuckerberg and Trump has long been strained. On January 6, 2021, Meta banned the then President Trump from all its platforms because of the violent riots in the US Parliament on Capitol Hill and Trump's use of social media including Facebook to incite it. While some called the decision a necessary step to protect the public and democracy, others criticized it as an abuse of power by the tech industry. Although the ban was lifted in 2023, there was no significant improvement in the relationship between the two. 

Recent donations also hint at a shift in Zuckerberg's political strategy. He has previously donated large sums of money to other Democratic leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris. In 2020, he and his wife Priscilla Chan donated nearly $400 million to public works related to Covid-19. Zuckerberg's latest effort can be understood as a desire to ensure a favorable relationship for Meta regardless of the political party the government belongs to. 

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have never made political donations to Trump, but Brin, like Zuckerberg, visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago bungalow in Florida. Similarly, Jeff Bezos, the second richest man and the owner of Amazon, has also given one million dollars for the preparation of Trump's inauguration. He told the Washington Post before the election 

stopped supporting Harris. The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, who is also preparing to become a minister in his new government with open support for Trump, poured about 224 million US dollars into Trump's election campaign alone. Along with this, in 2024, he has donated more than 280 million US dollars for various campaigns of the Republican Party. 

Trump's vice president JD Vance, who was once a venture capital businessman in Silicon Valley, and Musk have become the facilitators of efforts to improve relations with the newly elected president of Silicon Valley. Even open Trump supporters such as PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel could be decisive in the new administration's attitude toward tech companies, according to AP analyst Michael L. Price, who has been closely following the issue.

Politico's Michael McGrath believes that large technology companies like Meta, which are at risk of further regulation from the federal government, are trying to forge close ties with the Trump administration, like Zuckerberg. Openly supporting Trump is also likely to displease many of the users and employees of companies like Meta. Experts point out that Zuckerberg's move risks adding political polarization to the tech industry. They are of the view that it may be a matter of concern for users that companies are going to annoy leaders like Trump who advocate in favor of the rich to protect their own interests.