Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is exploring buying a property in Washington DC, according to two people familiar with the matter, as part of the social media platform’s push to shape US President Donald Trump’s approach to the tech sector.
A potential property had been identified, one of the people said.
The move signals Zuckerberg’s ambition to work closely with the Trump administration, the people said, as he seeks a role in influencing regulation in areas that are of increasing importance to Meta’s $1.7tn social media business, such as artificial intelligence.
Zuckerberg already owns multiple properties in California, as well as a Hawaii compound. If a purchase is completed, he will join a growing group of tech titans seeking bases close to the White House, as Silicon Valley forges closer ties with the new president.
A Meta spokesperson declined to comment.
Zuckerberg is looking to be closely involved in tech policy as he tries to make Meta the “leader” in AI, battling rivals such as OpenAI, Google and Microsoft.
Last week, Zuckerberg said he expected to allocate between $60bn and $65bn in capital spending to bolster the company’s AI efforts, including growing its teams “significantly” and building a new data centre so large that it would theoretically “cover a significant part of Manhattan”.
However, Trump’s attention has so far been focused on his rivals. Last week, the president announced that OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle were forming a $500bn US AI infrastructure joint venture called “Stargate”, lauding the initiative as “a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential under a new president”.
Zuckerberg has this month gone on a charm offensive targeting Trump, who has previously threatened to jail the social media chief for alleged election interference and dubbed his company an “enemy of the people” for alleged censorship.
In early January, Zuckerberg launched an unexpected overhaul of Meta’s content moderation, which was welcomed by Trump and his allies. He also accused the Biden administration of previously pressing the company to censor content related to the pandemic, for example.
In further signs of his keenness to curry favour with Trump, Zuckerberg replaced Meta’s global policy chief Nick Clegg with prominent Republican ally Joel Kaplan, and appointed Dana White, a martial arts titan and friend of Trump, to Meta’s board.
Last week, he attended Trump’s inauguration, sitting behind the president alongside tech executives including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Some experts have noted a recent surge in luxury property sales in Washington DC in what has been dubbed a “Trump bump”, as business executives bet that a residence in the capital will help bolster their influence with the administration.
Venture capitalist and entrepreneur David Sacks, appointed as Trump’s new crypto and AI tsar after supporting his campaign, has bought a $10mn residence in the US capital, according to documentation seen by the Financial Times and a person familiar with the matter. Axios first reported the move on Monday.
Elon Musk, who is leading the Department of Government Efficiency and has been working out of SpaceX’s Washington office, has reportedly also been seeking to invest in a DC property, prompting a backlash from locals in the city’s Adams Morgan neighbourhood.
The precise contours of Musk’s role in the administration have yet to be outlined, but Trump last week denied that Musk would be getting an office in the White House itself.
Additional reporting by Joe Miller in Washington DC
Read the full article here
