Mark Zuckerberg’s recent conversation with Joe Rogan revealed a shift in his persona and political alignment, expressing support for President-elect Donald Trump. Initially a tech industry leader aligned with the Democratic establishment, Zuckerberg now appears to embrace a more conservative stance, reminiscent of Elon Musk’s approach. His company, Meta, has recently disbanded its diversity, equity, and inclusion team and altered content moderation practices to allow more controversial speech. This transformation coincides with a personal aesthetic overhaul and a focus on hobbies like mixed martial arts, highlighting a dramatic shift in both his public image and corporate strategy.
When Mark Zuckerberg spoke for three hours with podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday, he mentioned only recently, almost as an afterthought, his support for President-elect Donald Trump.
“He just wants America to win,” says Mehta, the 40-year-old chief executive, and quickly goes on to discuss the importance of neck strength in mixed martial arts, the benefits of a bow and arrow in boar hunting, and his weaponry. Explained. He is concerned that Western society is becoming “watered down.”
Mr. Zuckerberg’s blink-and-you-want approval of the move was so short-lived that it can be forgiven for seeming mediocre.
But in reality, this is a dramatic turn for a man who seems to have morphed from a proud tech nerd benefiting from the Democratic establishment to a MAGA soldier on the front lines of the war for freedom of expression. represents.
In fact, Zuckerberg’s company transformation and public persona suggest he may be in a redesign phase.
Is this Zuck 2.0?
The first sign of change came in late November after the presidential election, when Trump boarded a plane to the newly re-elected President Trump’s “Winter White House” in Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
Just three months ago, in August, President Trump loudly threatened to jail the Facebook co-founder, warning that Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he tried to interfere in 2024. It was a bold decision considering what he was doing. election.
Mark Zuckerberg spoke for three hours with podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday, discussing the importance of neck strength in mixed martial arts, the merits of a bow and arrow in boar hunting, and concerns that Western society is becoming “watered down.” talked about. He only recently mentioned his renewed support for President-elect Donald Trump.
In fact, Zuckerberg’s Facebook suppressed early reports about Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell,” which revealed his debauchery into prodigal drug use and ties to foreign companies and governments. and is accused of interfering in the 2020 election.
Mr. Zuckerberg was likely trying to mend his relationship with Mr. Trump after Facebook and Instagram, also owned by Meta Inc. The banning of the 45th president from the platform has further soured relations. (Trump’s account has since been reinstated.)
Zuckerberg may have been inspired by the apparent success of another billionaire tech pal, Elon Musk, who rose to the top of the powerful MAGA regime to become Trump’s “first buddy” I don’t know.
Musk, 53, and Zuckerberg have long been archrivals, even challenging each other to MMA-style “cage matches” in public for much of 2023. In the end, Zuckerberg concluded that his rival wasn’t serious and called it quits.
But now critics say Mr. Zuckerberg has realized that to succeed under the Trump administration, he is better off aligning himself with Mr. Musk. “We intend to work with President Trump,” Zuckerberg said in a shocking announcement posted on Instagram on Tuesday.
In its most shocking move yet, Meta on Friday took a page from the Tesla CEO’s playbook by disbanding its entire DEI team and immediately ending its equity and inclusion programs. (Mr. Musk famously lumps together despicable liberal approaches to diversity as symptoms of the “woke mind virus.”)
Even in his personal life, Zuckerberg seems to have embraced Muskie-esque eccentricity.
On the eve of his 40th birthday in May, he underwent an extraordinary aesthetic rebrand, leading many to wonder if he was having a midlife crisis. After 13 years of wearing the same gray shirt, hoodie, and jeans, the self-proclaimed geek has transformed into a trendy Silicon Valley dude with long curly hair, a tan, and a new streetwear wardrobe.
On the eve of his 40th birthday in May, he underwent an extraordinary aesthetic rebrand, leading many to wonder if he was having a midlife crisis. After 13 years of wearing the same gray shirt, hoodie, and jeans, the self-proclaimed geek has transformed into a trendy Silicon Valley dude with long curly hair, a tan, and a new streetwear wardrobe. Pictured with Joe Rogan
Zuckerberg’s company transformation and public persona suggest he may be in a redesign phase.
The change was captured in a photo shoot at a birthday party that Zuckerberg’s wife, Priscilla Chan, gave him.
Zuckerberg was photographed sitting in a carefully staged, stunningly bizarre miniature model of every place he has lived throughout his life, from his childhood bedroom to his freshman year dorm to the Facebook offices. There is.
In one particularly unsettling photo, Microsoft founder Bill Gates sits with Zuckerberg in a mini-dormitory, but the camera angle and seating arrangement make it look like he’s been shrunk to the size of a child. A visible Zuckerberg loomed ominously over Gates.
Either way, the statement was clear. “Look at how far Zuckerberg has come and how much he has changed.”
Now he is rarely seen without his thick gold chain. In recent months, he has been leaning into a classic imperial aesthetic, with “Pasei mathos,” Greek for “learning through suffering,” and “Aut Zuck,” meaning “all Zuck or all nothing.” He is wearing a shirt that says “aut nihil.”
“He no longer looks like the kid who got bullied in high school, but more like the kid who bullies,” one technology journalist said of Zuckerberg’s appearance at a meta event in September.
He also denied reports that he was building a 5,000-square-foot “doomsday bunker” on a $270 million property in Hawaii, insisting it was “just a small shelter.” did. Not to mention the giant, larger-than-life statue of his wife that he gave her on her 39th birthday, saying, “Let’s revive the Roman tradition of making sculptures of wives.”
Zuckerberg also focuses on his hobbies, building an octagon in his backyard to practice mixed martial arts. “I’d love to try competing professionally or in mixed martial arts one more time, and then I’ll go back to jiu-jitsu,” he told Rogan on Friday, brimming with enthusiasm.
When it came to slaughtering wild pigs, he became philosophical. “I mainly use rifles because they’re much more efficient. Your conversion rate is very high,” he admitted, but added, “My favorite is the bow and arrow; It feels like the most athletic version.”
President Barack Obama and Mr. Zuckerberg wave after speaking at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Stanford in June 2016.
Among the many changes he announced this week are many that mirror changes Musk recently made at X (formerly Twitter). Revised community standards to eliminate third-party fact checkers, allow more controversial speech, and move content moderation teams from California to Texas
He said both hunting and mixed martial arts helped him feel more manly, and expressed concern that much of Western society and corporate America has been “castrated or neutered.”
He insisted that he needed to return to his manhood. But as Zuckerberg said, it appears he had an epiphany.
Even he landed on the wrong side of Meta’s censorship politics. A Facebook post about a knee injury he sustained while sparring was flagged as a potential medical “false alarm” in November and reportedly suppressed by an algorithm. The incident reportedly prompted him to begin reviewing Facebook’s censorship.
Among the many changes he announced this week are many that mirror changes Musk recently made at X (formerly Twitter). Eliminating third-party fact checkers, revising community standards to allow more controversial speech, moving content moderation teams from California to Texas.
Mehta also adds Trump cheerleader and Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White to Mehta’s board of directors and promotes former George W. Bush chief of staff Joel Kaplan to global policy director. Several important leadership changes were made.
“The whole point of social media is to basically allow people to share what they want,” he told Logan. “It goes back to our original mission of empowering people to share and making the world more open and connected.”
Indeed, over the past year, Mr. Zuckerberg has shown a willingness to change almost everything about the company, from how it runs to its appearance.
Now we’re seeing a MAGA-friendly version of Zuckerberg.
But the question arises: who will he transform into next?