Meta continues its submission to Trump with new advisor on its board
In a move unsurprising to those following Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's political affiliations, the tech billionaire has added former Trump advisor Dina Powell McCormick to its board, further cementing Zuckerberg's alliance with the Republican president.
According to Axios, which first reported McCormick's placement, the move serves two purposes: Meta's board's expansion into more global business experts and its attempts to win political favor with the current administration. According to a Meta press release, McCormick spent 16 years in leadership roles at Goldman Sachs and is now the vice chair, president, and head of global client services at BDT & MSD Partners.
She was President Donald Trump's deputy national security adviser in 2017 and the assistant secretary of state for State Secretary Condoleezza Rice under President George W. Bush. McCormick's husband is a Republican senator from Pennsylvania.
"I'm excited to bring my experience in finance, government, and economic development to support the people and entrepreneurs who use Meta's services," McCormick said in a press release.
In the same press release, Meta also announced that Patrick Collison, the co-founder and CEO of Stripe who used to be part of Meta's Advisory Group, will join the board.
"Patrick and Dina bring a lot of experience supporting businesses and entrepreneurs to our board. Patrick is deeply committed to expanding economic opportunity, and Dina has a long career advocating for economic development and supporting entrepreneurs. Their perspective will be extremely valuable to businesses that rely on our services to grow," Zuckerberg said in the press release.
This is part of ongoing moves that align Meta and Zuckerberg with the Trump administration, particularly as an ongoing antitrust fight heats up. Over the past few months, Meta added UFC CEO and Trump ally Dana White, lifted prohibitions against some hate speech on its platforms, got rid of fact-checkers in favor of community notes, ended its DEI efforts, and more.
Zuckerberg and other tech executives attended Trump's inauguration, dined at Mar-a-Lago on Thanksgiving Eve, and pledged $1 million to the event.