Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly tried to cozy up to President Donald Trump to slash a looming $30 billion antitrust lawsuit down to a paltry $450 million—only for the scheme to blow up in his face.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg personally reached out to the head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in March to offer a laughable $450 million settlement — a mere 1.5% of what the government says Meta owes for years of monopolistic power grabs, particularly its shady acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
Zuckerberg believed President Trump would have his back — and tried to cash in on his donations and political posturing to win favor with the president.
Zuckerberg, infamous among conservatives for silencing dissent and manipulating online narratives in 2020, donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, met with Trump officials multiple times, and even instructed Meta to scale back content moderation — all in a bid to rebrand himself as a MAGA-friendly ally.
But despite visiting Mar-a-Lago twice, attending Trump’s inauguration in January, settling Trump’s lawsuit for $25 million, and dumping millions into election-related PR, the Meta CEO couldn’t buy his way out of accountability.
Zuckerberg’s campaign culminated in a desperate phone call to FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson, offering a pitiful $450 million to settle the case.
Ferguson, to his credit, didn’t budge — calling the offer non-credible and reaffirming the agency’s demand for at least $18 billion and a binding consent decree. The trial proceeded as scheduled.
Though President Trump initially appeared open to a deal, conservative advisors and DOJ officials made it clear during an April 8 Oval Office meeting that Zuckerberg’s overtures were not to be trusted.
Those in the room — including DOJ antitrust head Gail Slater and adviser Mike Davis — urged Trump to let the trial play out, and he agreed, according to WSJ.
More from the news outlet:
Zuckerberg sounded confident that President Trump would back him up with the FTC, said people familiar with the matter. The billionaire Facebook co-founder had been developing closer ties to Trump—his company donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration and settled a $25 million lawsuit—and had been pressing the president in recent weeks to intervene in the monopoly lawsuit.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson found the offer not credible, and wasn’t ready to settle for anything less than $18 billion and a consent decree. As the trial approached, Meta upped its offer to close to $1 billion, the people said, and Zuckerberg led a frenzied lobbying effort to avoid the FTC trial.
[…]
Former FTC Chair Lina Khan told the Journal that the company’s $450 million settlement offer was “delusional.”
“Mark bought his way out of competing, so I’m not surprised that he thinks he can buy his way out of law enforcement, too,” said Khan, who was nominated by former President Joe Biden. “His proposed remedy, like his market strategy, is: ‘let my illegal monopoly keep monopolizing.”
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