Dana White Joins Meta’s Board As Zuckerberg Aligns Closer To Trump’s Sphere Of Influence

(L) CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship Dana White speaks during an election night. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) / (R) Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta conglomerate announced on Monday that Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White will be joining the company’s board of directors, bringing Zuckerberg closer to President-elect Donald Trump’s sphere of influence.

“I’ve never been interested in joining a board of directors until I got the offer to join Meta’s board. I am a huge believer that social media and AI are the future,” White stated.

“I am very excited to join this incredible team and to learn more about this business from the inside. There is nothing I love more than building brands, and I look forward to helping take Meta to the next level,” White continued.

White has been an outspoken Trump supporter on the 2024 MAGA campaign trail, speaking at multiple rallies and inviting Trump and his incoming administration officials to attend UFC fights.

White also attended Trump’s victory party in West Palm Beach, Florida, following his reelection this month, where the president-elect spoke about assisting White in obtaining venues for his mixed martial arts business in its early stages.

“Nobody deserves this more than him, and nobody deserves this more than his family does. This is what happens when the machine comes after you,” White said about Trump at his election night party. “This is karma, ladies and gentlemen. He deserves this. They deserve it as a family.”

White also took to X to share his excitement in joining Meta, stating: “I love social media. And I’m excited to be a small part of the future of AI and emerging technologies.”

Meanwhile, in a statement on the Meta website, Zuckerberg added that Dana White will be joined by John Elkann, a CEO at a European investment company, and Charlie Songhurst, a global technology investor.

“Dana, John and Charlie will add a depth of expertise and perspective that will help us tackle the massive opportunities ahead with AI, wearables and the future of human connection,” Zuckerberg stated.

The Meta CEO’s move to cozy up with White, a longtime Trump ally, also follows after Zuckerberg donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund.

Trump and Zuckerberg were previously at odds prior to Trump’s 2024 campaign, as the president-elect previously referred to Facebook as an “anti-Trump” platform. Zuckerberg even previously kicked Trump off of his platform following the January 6^th, 2021 Capitol protests, furthering the hostility between the two figures.

As Trump is set to return to the White House, Zuckerberg has seemingly changed his tune, appearing to actively attempt to repair the relationship. Zuckerberg visited President-elect Donald Trump in November, following his victory, where he expressed support for Trump’s leadership as well as his eagerness to work together.

Nevertheless, many Americans, including Trump administration officials, have still argued that Zuckerberg is only doing so in order to benefit himself and his business ventures.

“Mark, obviously, he has his own interest, and he has his own company and he has his own agenda,” stated Stephen Miller, Trump’s Deputy chief of staff. “But he’s made clear that he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trump’s leadership.”

Additionally, Zuckerberg also previously expressed regret for his role in censoring social media users during the COVID-19 pandemic, placing the blame on the Biden administration for pressuring his companies to censor information that did not go along with the official government narrative.

“I believe the government pressure was wrong and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote in a statement.

“I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” he added. “We’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”

BREAKING NEWS: Mark Zuckerberg the founder of Meta, formally known as Facebook and Instagram admits he regrets working with the Biden-Harris administration by censoring information online during the Covid era

In a letter to Chairman Jim Jordan and the House Judiciary… pic.twitter.com/fxeTduqbtt

— Dom Lucre | Breaker of Narratives (@dom_lucre) August 27, 2024

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