President Trump and Metz chief executive Mark Zuckerberg appear to be growing closer, considering two men dined together at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday evening. It’s the latest sign that the powers that be of Silicon Valley are ready to embrace the 47th president in a way they didn’t embrace the 45th. 

“Mark was grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming administration,” a Meta spokesperson told the BBC. “It’s an important time for the future of American Innovation.”

The president-elect has levied some harsh criticism against the tech billionaire in the past, blaming him — among others — for his 2020 loss to President Biden. Trump has said that Mr. Zuckerberg’s decision to spend money in a “non-partisan” way on voter turnout four years ago actually swayed voters in such a way that assured Trump’s defeat. 

State officials across the country have moved to ban so-called “Zuckerbucks” from being used for voter turnout efforts and election administration. In 2022, Trump said at a rally that Zuckerberg would be sent to prison if he spent money on this year’s national election. 

Mr. Zuckerberg also acknowledged earlier this year that his platform, Facebook, improperly suppressed news stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020, which anti-Trump members of the national security establishment were falsely claiming was likely “Russian disinformation”. 

Mr. Zuckerberg has not spoken about his personal politics, though he offered praise and admiration for Trump following the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania back in July. 

“At some level as an American, it’s hard to not, like, get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight,” Mr. Zuckerberg told Bloomberg in an interview. “And I think that’s why a lot of people like the guy.”

Eight years ago, when Trump shocked the world to win the White House, many of Silicon Valley’s business titans kept the man at arms-distance for fear of appearing political and damaging their credibility as dispassionate investors and innovators. 

Now, they — like many others — are more prepared to embrace him after his Electoral College and popular vote victory. 

Elon Musk is famously serving as a close advisor and co-head (with Vivek Ramaswamy)  of a new Department of Government Efficiency. Trump said on Joe Rogan’s podcast shortly before the election that the chief executive of Google, Sundar Pichai, had called him privately to praise him. Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, offered warm congratulations for Trump after his victory, and also, shortly before the election,  ordered his editors at the Washington Post to kill their editorial endorsing Vice President Harris.