At Mar-a-Lago, Zuckerberg has dinner with Trump and discusses innovation.

In yet another attempt to attract the president-elect, Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, met Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday. Of course, top executives from some of the biggest digital businesses in America had been contacting Trump just in case, even before the crucial Election Night on November 5.

Trump spoke with Tim Cook of Apple, Andy Jassy of Amazon, and Sundar Pichai of Google (with Elon Musk listening in). The New York Times was the first to reveal that Zuckerberg had visited him as well. Meta quickly verified that the secret dinner took place, telling The Business Insider that Zuckerberg was invited by the new government to attend and that the transition time is crucial "for the future of American Innovation."

During the election campaign, Trump made harsh attacks on Zuckerberg, and earlier this year, he threatened to imprison the tech mogul if elected. But when Zuckerberg openly declared his intention to remain impartial in the election and did not support any candidate, the flamboyant president-elect ceased disparaging Meta's CEO. Additionally, Meta's platforms have had no political content for months.

Finally, just after Trump was shot by a would-be assassin in Pennsylvania in July, Zuckerberg hailed his defiant behavior, perhaps realizing that what he and the world just witnessed was a deal clincher. Zuckerberg said on Threads that he was "praying" for Donald Trump to recover quickly after saying, "One of the most badass things I've ever seen in my life is watching him get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag."

During the Republican's first term, Trump and Zuckerberg had at least two meetings. However, because there is so much more at risk, the tech titans who mostly disregarded Trump in 2016 are now attempting to avoid making the same mistake. The Federal Trade Commission is presently looking into antitrust issues at the majority of large tech businesses, including Meta. They are, of course, eager to strengthen ties between Silicon Valley and the newcomers to Washington so that the threat to their ways of doing business subsides.

A federal judge decided in mid-November that the case against Meta for allegedly having an unlawful monopoly on social media may go to trial. It is anticipated that the litigation will continue throughout Trump's next term.