Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Meta’s accounting must be fuming.
|
The Donald Trump administration has been noticeably close to the tech industry in his second term. There are a couple of factors behind that, but in his latest State Dinner — which featured titans of the industry — a hot mic caught the president and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg discussing a $600 billion investment pledge he made on the fly. That moment raised questions about whether these are trustworthy people in general.
This was the second time Trump invited tech leaders to the White House since his inauguration in January. In attendance were Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and Sam Altman from OpenAI. Elon Musk was noticeably missing from the line up. Each tech billionaire had different motives for being there. Cook wanted to ensure his company was shielded from Trump’s wildly inconsistent tariff rates. Gates, after the decimation of USAID, was there to secure a deal that could keep his various philanthropy projects afloat.
Altman and Zuckerberg, however, attended as direct competitors. Altman’s widely used ChatGPT has placed him ahead in the AI “wars,” while Zuckerberg has been trying to catch up. Beyond poaching some of Altman’s best employees, he has also been trying to curry favor with Trump by ending fact-checking on his social media platforms and pledging large investments in the U.S. There are probably a few other incentives the tech titan could try, such as contributing to the upcoming White House ballroom. They already had a late-night meeting at the newly refurbished Rose Garden, which Trump also oversaw.
GRAND OPENING: Rose Garden Club 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/VJe97CondZ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 6, 2025
Trump has been locked in internal battles within his administration on how to reduce unemployment, which means that whenever he speaks on a deal, he makes sure to tie it back to the working class. That set the stage for Trump putting Zuckerberg on the spot at the State Dinner, in full view of the press. Trump directly asked the Meta CEO how much his company planned to spend over the next few years. Zuckerberg claimed he would spend $600 billion by 2028.
But the mic was still on. After the announcement prompted excited murmurs across the room, Zuckerberg leaned toward Trump in what he thought was a private exchange and said, “I wasn’t sure which number you wanted to go with.”
That obviously caused a firestorm online. “Go with” didn’t suggest Zuckerberg had a real investment in mind. It suggested they were feeding the press a number designed to generate positive headlines for the administration. After all, Meta is a massive international company with top-tier accountants who would have already armed their CEO with precise figures. You can’t just throw out a number that the president “wants to go with” and work backwards.
On X, outrage poured in. One user called the move “North Korea levels of propaganda.” Another pointed out that the Trump administration and its allies are shameless.
These people are shameless.
— WTFPhilosophy (@WtfPhilosophy) September 5, 2025
It’s quite befitting that even when they’re likely exaggerating numbers to deflect criticism, they manage to botch it instantly. It’s almost as if the Trump administration can’t get anything right — not even propaganda.
Published: Sep 6, 2025 12:54 pm