President-elect Trump should delay efforts in Europe and other countries to crack down on the US tech industry, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg, who has been trying to ingratiate himself with Trump since the president-elect won the 2024 presidential election, called for stronger government support during an appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast last Friday .
“I think it’s a strategic advantage for the United States that we have many of the strongest companies in the world, and I think it should be part of the U.S. strategy to protect that,” Zuckerberg said. “It’s one of the things I’m optimistic about with President Trump is, I think he just wants America to win.”
EU antitrust officials have imposed a series of stiff fines totaling “more than $30 billion” over the past decade or so, Zuckerberg added. Last July, the EU accused Meta of violating sweeping technology competition law — which could ultimately result in fines of up to 10% of its global revenue, or nearly $13.5 billion.
Zuckerberg, who met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, argued that the fines are “almost like a tariff” and have been made “as an EU-wide policy of how they want to deal with American technology”.
“If any other country was involved in another industry that we cared about, the US government would probably find a way to put pressure on them, but I think what happened here is actually the opposite, Zuckerberg said.
Trump has historically clashed with Zuckerberg and Meta — once referring to Facebook as “the real enemy of the people” and repeatedly accusing the social media giant of censorship and election meddling.
Still, Zuckerberg has taken several steps to mend fences with the incoming administration — including appointing a Republican as the company’s chief policy executive, ending fact-checking programs and killing DEI initiatives that have soured long the conservatives.
Zuckerberg is not the only Big Tech executive who has pressed Trump to weigh in on Europe’s enforcement actions.
Last October, Trump said he received a call from Apple CEO Tim Cook — who complained that the iPhone maker has faced billions of dollars in overseas fines.
“Two hours ago, three hours ago, he (Cook) called me,” Trump told podcaster Patrick Bet-David at the time. “He said that the European Union has just fined us 15 billion dollars. … Then on top of that they were fined another $2 billion by the European Union,” Trump added.
During his nearly three-hour interview with Rogan, Zuckerberg said Biden officials had called executives at Meta to “scream” and “curse” at them while demanding they remove any negative posts about the coronavirus vaccine on Facebook.
He also criticized Meta’s rival Apple, claiming the company hasn’t “really invented anything big in a while.”
#Zuckerberg #urges #Trump #intervene #fines #tech #firms
Image Source : nypost.com