Dana White, the president of the mixed martial arts organization UFC, who is considered one of the closest associates of Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect, has been appointed as a director of Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
According to CNN and others on the 6th (local time), Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced the appointment of three new directors, including President White, to Meta’s board of directors.
CEO Zuckerberg explained the background of the appointment by stating, “There are tremendous opportunities in the future of artificial intelligence (AI), wearables, and social media, and our board will help us achieve our vision.”
President White shared the news of his appointment as a director through Instagram, stating, “I love social media, and I am pleased to be a small part of the future of AI and emerging technologies.” Alongside White, Charlie Songhurst, a technology investor specializing in AI, and John Elkann, an heir to the Italian automotive conglomerate Agnelli family, were appointed to Meta’s board.
CNN reported, “White’s appointment as a director marks a significant shift towards the right within Meta’s top ranks, and it comes as Zuckerberg aims to improve relations with Trump before his inauguration later this month.”
Meta has had a tense relationship with President-elect Trump. Zuckerberg had publicly criticized Trump’s anti-immigration policies during his first administration. Trump claimed that Meta’s social media platforms censored conservative speech and during last year’s election campaign, stated, “I consider Facebook the enemy of the people.”
However, following Trump’s election victory, Zuckerberg has made efforts to improve the relationship. In November last year, Zuckerberg visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for a dinner and announced a $1 million donation for the inauguration ceremony. He also promoted Joel Kaplan, a Republican figure close to the Trump administration, to Meta’s global policy lead.
The American IT media outlet TechCrunch stated, “Meta has been a target of Trump’s criticism. Zuckerberg has recently shown several moves to appease the next president, including dining at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and appointing Kaplan, an executive with Republican ties, as head of policy.”