• Mysterious drones, first seen in New Jersey and now around the US, have everyone talking.
• We're probably not all about to get sucked up by a spaceship — but it's fun to wonder!
• The mystery is bringing people together from across the political spectrum in a true online moment.

Lots of people have one conspiracy theory they kind of believe in. Ideally, this is more on the mild end of things rather than something like the moon landing being faked. A little skepticism toward authority can be healthy.

Which is why the mysterious drones that have been flying over New Jersey and the Northeast — which the federal government tells us are nothing to worry about — are a perfect thread for our conspiratorial minds to pull on.

In this postelection time, the drones have united people across the political spectrum in a shared belief that something weird is going on, and these clowns in government aren't telling us the straight story.

(For the record, there is no evidence that the clowns in the government are, in fact, lying to us.)

Over on the Facebook Group "New Jersey Mystery Drones — let's solve it," which has more than 73,000 members, there's a sharp sense of disillusionment with the local and national government response. There's also a fair number of people who might not normally talk about believing in space aliens saying they think what we're seeing is space aliens.

And I think that's a beautiful thing. We needed this.

We may one day learn the Official Truth. Until then, the drones spotted over New Jersey and other places have become a perfect obsession: an unsolved mystery that has bonded communities and gotten people outside into the fresh December air.

(I would like to give a disclaimer here that I cannot say with 100% certainty that this is not a military attack from Australia as vengeance for our mockery of their Olympic breakdancer. Or that space aliens are not about to invade and harvest our organs.)

What we know about the apparent drones, so far, is that officials seem to agree that it's neither of those threats. The Pentagon has also said they're not drones from an "Iranian mothership." And other officials say what people are seeing is just regular airplanes, helicopters, or stars.

(If you want to get in on the action and check what's flying in the sky above you, flight-tracking apps can help.)

The drone mystery has been healing a wound in our divided nation. We needed something mildly silly but kind of wacky and slightly concerning to focus on collectively.

Unexplained drone activity ticks a lot of boxes of things humans love:

• Small aircraft, a favorite interest of dads.
• Being outside and staring at the night sky — activities that have bonded mankind since days of cave paintings.
• The opportunity to become an armchair expert in a field you read about in two news articles and a Wikipedia page.
• Talking to people in your medium-to-small town.
• A vague conspiracy — but mostly friendly and nice.
• Aliens????

Best of all, discussing drone sightings has been hyperlocal — and has thrived on Facebook. Outside the drone phenomenon, Facebook Groups already had become the nation's hub for suburban news. It's where people go to ask for a plumber recommendation, complain about schools, post activities — and now discuss potential extraterrestrial activity.

Getting in on the drone action

In my small town outside New York City, the local Facebook Group was buzzing about drone sightings — people were thrilled to finally get in on the action after hearing about it in New Jersey for weeks.

An offshoot group was started to discuss drone sightings in Connecticut. (It's much smaller than the New Jersey one.) A recent post showed the vibe: "No sightings yet in Norwalk." See, everyone wants in on the fun.

There's some history of silly panics in the headlines just before something big happens. A series of shark attacks — dubbed the "Summer of the Shark" — dominated the news in the late summer of 2001. Then there was the summer of clown sightings in 2016, right before Trump was elected president for the first time.

Perhaps years from now, we'll all look back at this as the funny moment where we all focused on drones right before [whatever] happened. Or, hey, maybe we'll look back on this and think: "We should've fought off the alien brainsuckers sooner!"

There's so much for middle-aged suburbanites to argue about on the internet — property taxes, politics, Luigi. But for a brief moment, we've gotten to engage in extended Fox Mulder LARP.

I hope the drones stick around a little longer.

EXCLUSIVE: A top Republican senator will accuse Meta – the parent company of Facebook – of "shadow banning" and removing social media posts in a letter Tuesday demanding answers from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, the top Republican on the Small Business committee, will, in part, cite a 2022 Washington Post report on social media companies’ "deamplification" of certain Facebook and Instagram content.

The report discussed Meta’s response to "problematic content," which the executive at the time called "borderline" and argued must have reduced reach due to its proclivity to go viral.

In the letter addressed to Zuckerberg’s San Mateo County, California, office, Ernst alleged such content included that of the military as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Virginia.

TOP DOGE SENATOR DEMANDS ANSWERS ON PLAN TO EXHAUST CHIPS ACT FUNDS BEFORE TRUMP ARRIVES

"Your platform, amongst others, provides an unparalleled opportunity to connect the U.S. military with younger generations. That is why I am concerned about Meta’s ongoing shadow banning and removal of the U.S. Armed Services’ posts," Ernst wrote in the letter obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital.

"The defense of our nation is entirely dependent upon the voluntary enlistment of brave women and men willing to put their lives on the line so every American can freely speak their minds."

In remarks to Fox News Digital, Ernst said Americans’ freedoms are only possible through the all-volunteer armed services, which she previously served in.

"I am concerned Meta’s algorithms are hindering our investment in connecting with and recruiting the next generation of warfighters," she added.

"The service and sacrifice of the brave men and women in uniform should be celebrated, not restricted."

In her letter, Ernst accused Meta of sporadically adjusting its violations policies without "clear rationale" and cited reports to Congress showing an increase in content-restriction on military-related postings.

ERNST MEETS WITH HEGSETH

Embedding an image of an Instagram violation warning on one particular post, Ernst listed a handful of such reports and their loss of cyber "reach."

A six-hour suspension of a post on Feb. 29 resulted in the loss of 2,500 impressions and 500 engagements, while a similar situation on March 3 reduced a post’s reach by 5,000 impressions and 1,100 engagements.

Ten posts on the GoArmy social media account were flagged as violating guidelines over a three-day period in September, Ernst said, and the account was briefly put on "non-recommendable" status twice.

The senator said the Army’s public affairs office reported disruptions to several posts, including one featuring the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and one depicting soldiers onboard a helicopter.

HAWLEY CALLS OUT FACEBOOK CEO AFTER SENATE HEARING

In turn, Ernst asked Zuckerberg to lay out the guidelines used to mediate military-related content and how they are communicated to account holders.

She also asked for an explanation as to the apparent suppression of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier post, and actions taken thus far to prevent future shadow-bans that shouldn’t occur.

The lawmaker also demanded an estimate on the cost of the official Pentagon-sanctioned ads that were suppressed.

A U.S. appeals court has overturned a decision in an antitrust lawsuit against Meta, which was filed in in late 2021 by the long-shuttered social app Phhhoto. In court, the startup alleged that Meta violated U.S. antitrust law by copying its core features and suppressing competition. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in 2023 granted Meta’s […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Days after Meta admitted that it’s been over-moderating its content, with mistakes impacting creators, the company announced an expansion of a new policy that will help to keep creators from being penalized after their first time violating Meta’s Community Standards. On Thursday, Meta said that the policy, which launched in August for Facebook creators, will […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

As Meta faces off with antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe, a £2.1 billion+ Facebook U.K. class action-style competition lawsuit, which takes Meta’s market dominance as a given, is moving ahead after the social media giant lost a bid to have the litigation thrown out. The suit is seeking damages worth a minimum of […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

The popular American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson says it is still being kept in the dark after its Facebook account was suddenly suspended last month.

Though the account has since been reinstated, a representative for the company told Fox News Digital that "despite multiple attempts to reach Facebook to discuss the matter, to date we have not had direct communications with any of their staff members."

The gun company, which is headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee, said staff suddenly received a notification from Facebook on Nov. 22 stating that their official Smith & Wesson account had been "suspended indefinitely."

"No warnings of a page suspension were previously communicated by Facebook," said the representative.

BIDEN-HARRIS POLICIES MAY BE BEHIND SURGE IN REPUBLICAN WOMEN OWNING GUNS, CONCEALED CARRY ADVOCATE SAYS

The representative said Facebook referenced five posts dating back to December 2023 that they "suggest did not follow their community guidelines."

"The posts in question included consumer promotional campaigns, charitable auctions, and product release announcements," the Smith & Wesson representative explained. "While Facebook’s policies are ever-changing, which creates a burden for users to comply with, we do not believe this content violated any of Facebook’s policies or community guidelines, and similar posts have been published in the past without issue."  

Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of buying, selling and trading of weapons, ammunition and explosives. However, according to Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there is an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content is still restricted for minors.

‘SMOKING-GUN DOCUMENTS’ PROVE FACEBOOK CENSORED AMERICANS ON BEHALF OF WHITE HOUSE, JIM JORDAN SAYS

According to the representative, the page was reinstated on Nov. 27 after the gun manufacturer made a public statement about the incident on X.

In the post, which has 3.1 million views, Smith & Wesson criticized Facebook and thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks against the First and Second Amendments. The company encouraged its 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to "seek out platforms" that represent the "shared values" of free speech and the right to bear arms.

Despite the page eventually being reinstated, the representative told Fox News Digital that the company has still had no contact with Meta and "no rationale was given for the reinstatement beyond a comment on social media from a Facebook representative stating that the suspension had been ‘in error.’"

That same Meta staffer, Andy Stone, also directed Fox News Digital to the X post positing that Smith & Wesson’s suspension was an accident. In the post, Stone said "the page was suspended in error and we’ve now restored it. We apologize that this happened."

TRUMP FCC PICK SAYS BRINGING ‘CENSORSHIP CARTEL’ TO HEEL WILL BE A ‘TOP’ PRIORITY: ‘IT’S GOT TO END'

Through it all, the Smith & Wesson representative said the manufacturer is "grateful to Elon Musk for having created a public square platform that respects the right for Americans to voice their opinions, ALL opinions, and not just those that coincide with one agenda or another – especially as it relates to our constitutional rights guaranteed under the 1st and 2nd Amendments."

The spokesperson said that since their account was suspended, they have become aware that many other social media users have been similarly silenced and de-platformed.

"While we were encouraged by the reinstatement of our account, we were similarly disappointed by the number of other users reacting to our statement on X that commented that they have had very similar experiences with their accounts being de-platformed without warning," said the representative. "While we obviously do not know the details of those instances, we encourage Meta to continue working towards a more inclusive platform which allows the freedom for respectful dialogue from all viewpoints, which is a hallmark of American society."

Founded in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1852, Smith & Wesson is one of the most recognized gun brands in America and reported $535.8 million in sales in the 2024 fiscal year.

• TikTok is facing scrutiny in Romania for election interference.
• Romania's defense council says TikTok's algorithm fueled the rise of a far-right candidate.
• TikTok denied the claim that it treated any political candidate's content differently from others.

TikTok is facing accustions from regulators in Romania that content on the platform improperly influenced the country's presidential election.

Romania's Supreme Council of National Defense said in a statement on Thursday that one candidate "benefited from massive exposure due to preferential treatment" from TikTok.

Călin Georgescu, a far-right populist and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, defeated leftist Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, the heavy favorite, in the first round of presidential voting on November 24. Georgescu, who was virtually unknown before the election, catapulted from obscurity thanks in part to his viral TikTok videos.

The win secured Georgescu a place in a runoff vote scheduled for December 8. The Romanian Constitutional Court ordered a re-verification of the result following his surprise victory.

Georgescu has courted controversy with his pro-Russian and anti-NATO rhetoric, calling Ukraine an "invented country," according to the Associated Press. Romania borders Ukraine and is a NATO member.

In its statement, the Romanian defense council said there is growing interest inside Russia to "influence the public agenda in Romanian society" and disrupt social cohesion.

Georgescu's sudden popularity on TikTok appears to have helped fuel his election victory. One Romanian think tank told the AP that his TikTok following and engagement — his posts garnered over 100 million views in the weeks before the election — appeared "sudden and artificial."

The Supreme Council of National Defense said TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, failed to label the videos of one candidate — presumed to be Georgescu — as campaign content. The defense council said that not labeling the content as campaign-related drastically increased its visibility on TikTok.

"Thus, the visibility of that candidate increased significantly in relation to the other candidates who were recognized by the TikTok algorithms as candidates for the presidential elections, and the content promoted by them was massively filtered, exponentially decreasing their visibility among platform users," the statement said.

The accusation against TikTok in Romania mirrors similar claims against Facebook during the 2016 US presidential election when Russia used the social media platform to sow discord that favored Republicans and Donald Trump.

TikTok has also faced scrutiny in the United States for allowing political ads that included disinformation in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.

TikTok did not immediately return a request for comment from Business Insider. A spokesperson for the company told Politico that it denies that Georgescu was treated differently by the platform than other candidates.

"It is categorically false to claim his account was treated differently to any other candidate," spokesperson Paolo Ganino told the outlet. Ganino added that Georgescu was treated "in the same way as every other candidate on TikTok, and subject to exactly the same rules and restrictions."

• Meta plans a $10 billion global underwater cable project spanning 25,000 miles, TechCrunch reported.
• The project is reportedly in the early planning stages, though the exact route has not been announced.
• Meta aims for sole cable ownership of the cable, avoiding geopolitical tension areas like the Red Sea.

Meta is reportedly planning to build a fiber-optic underwater cable that would traverse the globe, TechCrunch reported.

Sources close to Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, said the company may spend over $10 billion on a nearly 25,000-mile project. Meta would reportedly own 100% of the cable's capacity, per TechCrunch. It's unclear what role, if any, AI plays in the project's motivations.

TechCrunch reported the project is in its early stages, but the intended capacity and route are not public. Planning is reportedly being led by Meta's South Africa office.

Underwater fiber-optic cables are frequently used to carry telecommunication signals over large areas of water. Meta is part owner of various cables including 2Africa, a submarine telecommunications cable extending across Africa's coastline.

Google is the sole owner of 17 submarine cable holdings, while Amazon and Microsoft are part owners in a handful, telecom analyst Teleography found.

Entrepreneur Sunil Tagare first reported the plan, telling TechCrunch that the cable would cost $2 billion but would jump to over $10 billion in the next five to 10 years. Tagare told TechCrunch that he speculates India's capacity to build data centers more cheaply than the US could explain why the cable may end in India.

"It will start on the East Coast of the US and go straight to India with a stop in South Africa (for powering and restoration purposes)," Tagare wrote on LinkedIn. "And it will also go from India straight to the Western Coast of the US with a powering and restoration stop in Darwin, Australia — avoiding the Red Sea, the South China Sea and more importantly Egypt, Marseilles, the Straits of Malacca and Singapore — all of whom are now major single points of failure."

The project would take years to complete, given limited resources like cable ships, TechCrunch reported.

TechCrunch reported that the cables could also be strategically placed to avoid areas of geopolitical tension where cables have been damaged, such as the Baltic or Red Seas.

Meta did not respond to a request for comment.

After its Facebook account was suspended, the popular American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson thanked Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech amid what it called ongoing attacks against the First and Second Amendments.

Andy Stone, a representative for Facebook's parent company, Meta, told Fox News Digital that the account had been suspended in error and that it has since been restored. 

In a Friday post on X, however, Smith & Wesson emphasized the importance of Musk's stance on free speech, criticizing Meta for suspending their account after the platform flagged several of its posts for promoting the sale of weapons.

Founded in 1852 in Norwich, Connecticut, today Smith & Wesson is based in Maryville, Tennessee, and is one of the most recognized gun brands in America, reporting $535.8 million in sales in the 2024 fiscal year.

Smith & Wesson said that "despite our extensive efforts and resources spent on trying to adhere to Facebook’s ever-changing community guidelines on firearms, our account was suspended indefinitely on Friday, November 22nd, 15 years after its original creation."

ELON MUSK PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR THE SECOND AMENDMENT: ‘TYRANTS’ DISARM THE PEOPLE

The manufacturer shared a screenshot of the suspension notice it had received from Facebook in which the platform said several posts dated Nov. 22, 13 and July 18 violated the rules on promoting weapons.

Facebook’s commerce policy prohibits the promotion of buying, selling and trading of weapons, ammunition and explosives. However, according to Facebook’s parent company Meta’s website, there is an exception for legitimate brick-and-mortar and online retailers, though their content is still restricted for minors.

ZUCKERBERG SAYS ‘ESTABLISHMENT’ ASKED FACEBOOK TO CENSOR COVID MISINFO THAT ENDED UP TRUE: ‘UNDERMINES TRUST’ 

Although its account has since been reinstated, Smith & Wesson encouraged its 1.6 million Facebook followers and fans to "seek out platforms" that represent the "shared values" of free speech and the right to bear arms.

"In an era where free speech and the right to bear arms are under constant attack, we want to thank Elon Musk and X for supporting free speech and our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 1st and 2nd Amendments," said Smith & Wesson.

Musk responded to the post by saying, "[we] believe in the Constitution." He also pointed out that X had resumed allowing users to post the gun emoji after it was replaced by a water gun by Twitter in 2018. 

The National Association for Gun Rights, which is a Second Amendment advocacy group with over 4.5 million activists, also chimed in, saying, "Thank you for giving us a place to shelter in this storm of Constitution-hating companies."

In a separate post, the association called X one of the last holdouts for free speech and gun rights.

"It is becoming clear that X is one of the last major bastions of 2A and Firearms content on social media," said the group, adding, "the noose is slowly tightening everywhere else, seeking to squeeze us out entirely."

This article was edited to reflect new information from Meta about the Smith & Wesson account being suspended in error.

Meta, the parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is the second-biggest driver of internet usage globally. Its properties — and their billions of users — account for 10% of all fixed and 22% of all mobile traffic. Meta’s investments into artificial intelligence stand to boost that usage even further. So to make sure it will […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

• President-elect Donald Trump and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg might be cooling their long-simmering feud.
• Zuckerberg and Trump dined at Mar-a-Lago and Meta donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.
• Here's a look at the timeline of Trump and Zuckerberg's rivalry.

Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg breaking bread together may have marked the beginning of a new chapter in their relationship.

Last month, Trump and Zuckerberg shared a Thanksgiving eve meal at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump previously threatened to jail the Meta CEO if he won the 2024 election, illustrating just how important their tête-à-tête might be.

Now, Meta has donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.

Trump and his conservative allies have long criticized Zuckerberg, putting the head of one of the nation's largest companies under a microscope at a critical time.

"It's an important time for the future of American Innovation. 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 spokesperson for Meta previously said in a statement to Business Insider, confirming the dinner.

Meta is facing an antitrust trial next year. There's bipartisan support for a major rewrite of Section 230, a law that shields Big Tech companies from liability. Zuckerberg has previously supported changing Section 230, but his company could be dramatically affected by how the law is changed.

Like many in Silicon Valley, Zuckerberg quickly expressed concern for Trump after he survived a July assassination attempt. Trump reciprocated by falsely claiming Zuckerberg endorsed him. However, it was a major departure from threatening to jail the tech executive if he tried to influence the 2024 campaign.

Here's a look at how their relationship evolved over the years.

Trump and Zuckerberg have met on multiple occasions.

‪Nice meeting with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook in the Oval Office today.

Posted by Donald J. Trump on Thursday, September 19, 2019

They had a previously unannounced meeting at the White House in September 2019.

"Mark is in Washington, D.C., meeting with policymakers to hear their concerns and talk about future internet regulation. He also had a good, constructive meeting with President Trump at the White House today," a Meta spokesperson said at the time.

"‪Nice meeting with Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook in the Oval Office today," Trump said of their meeting.

Trump and Zuckerberg met again the following month.

Trump, Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel had a secret dinner in October 2019.

Thiel, who cofounded PayPal and Palantir, was the first outside investor in Facebook; he was a vocal supporter of Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

"We talked about a number of things that were on his mind, and some of the topics that you read about in the news around our work," Zuckerberg said of the dinner in an interview with "CBS This Morning."

Zuckerberg was in DC to testify before Congress about Facebook's cryptocurrency, Libra.

Trump has said he would've banned Facebook while president, but Zuckerberg "kept calling" him.

In 2021, Trump praised Nigeria for banning Twitter.

"More COUNTRIES should ban Twitter and Facebook for not allowing free and open speech — all voices should be heard," Trump said in a statement at the time.

"Perhaps I should have done it while I was President," he added. "But Zuckerberg kept calling me and coming to the White House for dinner telling me how great I was."

Nigeria lifted its ban on Twitter after seven months.

Trump has lambasted Zuckerberg for indefinitely suspending his Facebook account after his remarks contributing to the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

In 2021, Meta "indefinitely" suspended Trump's accounts following the January 6 Capitol riots, citing "use of our platform to incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government."

"His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world," Zuckerberg wrote in a post at the time. "We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect -- and likely their intent -- would be to provoke further violence."

Meta in 2023 reinstated Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts.

In the time since the suspension, Facebook's Oversight Board examined the decision.

Eventually, Meta decided to reinstate Trump's account.

It did so while putting "new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses," including bigger penalties for any violations of Meta's rules.

As of July 2024, the company has lifted its final restrictions on Trump's account in the run-up to the November presidential election.

In July, Meta removed the additional guardrails that remained in place on Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts following their reinstatement.

"In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis," Meta said in a statement at the time. "As a result, former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties."

Meta added that it would "review accounts subject to this protocol on a periodic basis to determine whether heightened suspension penalties for Community Standards violations remain appropriate."

Trump has expressed interest in suing Facebook.

"We should be suing Google and Facebook and all that," he said in a June 2019 interview with Fox Business. "Which, perhaps we will."

Trump made the remarks in the context of fines the European Union has levied against big tech firms like Google for breaching the bloc's antitrust rules.

In 2021, Trump did just that.

Trump filed suit against Facebook, Google, Twitter, and the companies' respective CEOs in July 2021, alleging they unlawfully censor him and other conservatives.

In May 2022, Trump's lawsuit against Twitter was dismissed.

So far in 2024, Zuckerberg has said Trump's reaction to being shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was "badass."

Zuckerberg expressed awe over Trump's response to getting shot.

"Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I've ever seen in my life," Zuckerberg told Bloomberg of the attempted Trump assassination. "On some level as an American, it's like hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that's why a lot of people like the guy."

But the Meta CEO said he wasn't planning to endorse any candidate for president this election cycle.

Trump says Zuckerberg called him to apologize after Meta's AI chatbot denied the assassination attempt happened.

When asked about the shooting, Meta AI, in some widely-circulated instances, claimed Trump wasn't shot.

"He actually apologized; he said they'd made a mistake," Trump said on "Mornings with Maria" on Fox Business. "He actually announced he's not going to support a Democrat because he can't because he respected me for what I did that day."

A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment but didn't dispute that the two had talked. The spokesperson also referred BI to Zuckerberg's statement last month that he wouldn't be endorsing any presidential candidate in 2024.

As for the Meta AI posts about the shooting, Meta said in a July blog post: "In both cases, our systems were working to protect the importance and gravity of this event. And while neither was the result of bias, it was unfortunate and we understand why it could leave people with that impression. That is why we are constantly working to make our products better and will continue to quickly address any issues as they arise."

Trump had threatened to imprison Zuckerberg.

In July, Trump said he'd pursue "Election Fraudsters" if re-elected and that they'd "be sent to prison for long periods of time."

"We already know who you are. DON'T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful!" Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.

Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated roughly $400 million to nonprofits in 2020 to help state and local governments conduct a presidential election during an unprecedented pandemic. Republicans have remained furious over the donations. Meta has repeatedly tried to repair relationships, but many in the GOP remain incensed even though there's no evidence that the funds favored Democrats.

Amid continued criticism of his donations, Zuckerberg announced he would not make a similar contribution ahead of the 2024 election.

Trump mentioned Zuckerberg in his book, "Save America," and didn't mince words.

Politico reported that Trump included a picture of himself with the Meta CEO, with the caption, "He would bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT."

It's unclear when Trump wrote the caption, though he appears to be referring to a $420 million contribution Zuckerberg and his wife made to fund election infrastructure in 2020.

Trump changed his mind on a TikTok ban, seemingly because of how it would likely benefit Meta.

While in office, Trump signed an executive order to ban TikTok, which President Biden revoked upon taking office after Trump.

Trump now views a TikTok ban differently.

"Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm for TikTok because you need competition," Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek in July. "If you don't have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram, and that's, you know, that's Zuckerberg."

In March, he made similar comments in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box" and referred to Facebook as "an enemy of the people."

"There's a lot of good and there's a lot of bad with TikTok," he said. "But the thing I don't like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger. And I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people."

Zuckerberg quickly congratulated Trump on his 2024 win.

Like other major CEOs, Zuckerberg quickly praised Trump after it became apparent that the former president had won the 2024 election.

"Congratulations to President Trump on a decisive victory. We have great opportunities ahead of us as a country," Zuckerberg wrote on Threads on November 6. "Looking forward to working with you and your administration."

They shared a pre-holiday meal, and Meta donated $1 million to his inauguration.

Zuckerberg was invited to dine with Trump on Thanksgiving eve, a Meta spokesperson said.

The Meta CEO traveled to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach club nicknamed "The Winter White House." Trump has been holding meetings there with potential cabinet picks and other top staffers as he prepares to retake the White House in January.

The New York Times reported that Zuckerberg "initiated" the meeting.

Some in Trump's orbit are taking notice of Zuckerberg's efforts.

"Mark Zuckerberg has been very clear about his desire to be a supporter of this and a participant in this change that we're seeing all around America, all around the world with this reform movement that Donald Trump is leading," longtime Trump advisor Stephen Miller, who will also return to the White House, told Fox News.

Miller cautioned "we'll see what comes" of Zuckerberg's rapprochement but made clear that the Meta CEO "understands" the change Trump is seeking.

On December 11, The Wall Street Journal reported that Meta had donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund, telling his campaign of the plan ahead of the dinner between the billionaires.

• Would you trust your friends to curate your dating-app matches?
• Several new "matchmaking" dating apps have launched in the past year, addressing dating-app fatigue.
• Startups like Sitch and Cheers are using AI and social connections to match users.

Matching and matches are everyday phrases in the online dating app lexicon. But matchmaking? Less so.

That may be changing.

A slew of new startups have launched in the past few months centered around matchmaking in the age of swipe fatigue.

Sitch, an AI-powered matchmaking app launched in New York in November. Cheers, an app that lets friends play matchmaker in a social-media feed, launched in October. Facebook Dating even launched a matchmaking feature last month.

Matchmaking is by no means a new invention. People have relied on matchmakers for centuries, and have sometimes been willing to pay thousands of dollars to be paired by one.

Tinder's cofounder and former CEO, Sean Rad, told Harry Stebbings on a September episode of the 20VC podcast that he had always imagined the dating app moving beyond swiping and into matchmaking. Rad described an ideal version of Tinder where the app was trained well enough to suggest the right "person for you," he said on the podcast.

Big dating apps have previously dabbled in matchmaking. In 2017, Hinge (just before it was acquired by Match Group in 2018) launched a stand-alone app called Matchmaker that let friends swipe for each other. It appears to have since shut down. Tinder, also owned by Match Group, launched a similar feature in 2023.

The current trend of new matchmaking apps generally splits into two categories: Either the users themselves are doing the matchmaking, or the app (typically built with AI) is matching users directly.

Friends and family become matchmakers

Handing over the reins to your dating profile to friends and family may seem daunting, but several startups are betting on this form of matchmaking.

Loop, founded by siblings Lian and Adam Zucker, is a "matchmaking app where everyone can set up their single friends," Lian said. Only two-thirds of the user base are singles, though, Lian told BI, explaining that the rest are friends and family members — or even professional or hobbyist matchmakers. Loop launched in 2023 and is currently free for all users.

An app that's set to launch in December, called Arrange, is built around a similar premise. Developed by former Fizz staffers Ram Chirimunj and Zoe Mazakas, the app will let users link their profiles with a "scout," likely a trusted friend or family member, who can talk with potential matches ahead of time and vet for compatibility.

"I thought back on all my relationships and realized that they were all made by friend introductions," Chirimunj said. "I wanted to see how we could bring that authenticity from the real world onto a dating platform."

But some startups that offer matchmaking tools, like Cheers, recognize many people don't want to spend all their time matching on behalf of their friends — no matter how much they love them. Sahil Ahuja, an ex-Instagram engineer and founder of Cheers, is trying to bridge the gap between dating and social media with a friend-of-a-friend social graph. The app, which he describes as a crossover between Hinge and Instagram, is free and currently invite-only.

On Cheers, if a user spots someone they may want to go on a date with, they can send a request to their mutual friend on the app to make the introduction. Non-dating users can also send profiles or start group chats with mutual friends to kick off a connection.

"Because it's more social, it lends itself well to solving this more organically and feeling more like how you would date in real life through friends," Ahuja told BI.

Let AI do the matchmaking for you

Some newer dating apps (like Hawk Tuah Girl's app called Pookie or Rizz) are riding the tailwinds of the AI hype with chatbots that help people flirt, troubleshoot dating conundrums, and connect.

Sitch, for example, offers an AI chatbot experience where users can ask questions about dating. Users can also answer a series of intimate questions about their interests, values, and backgrounds that contribute to a profile within the app. The app then offers users potential "setups," where the AI will introduce two users.

"We've tried to replicate the exact human flow of matchmaking," Sitch cofounder Nandini Mullaji — who has experience in matchmaking friends of friends IRL — told BI.

Sitch launched in November exclusively in New York — but there's still a waitlist to get approved. Users can then pay for "setups," which cost $150 for three pairings.

Amori, a dating-advice app with characters users can chat with, is also experimenting with its own form of matchmaking using a personal assistant (though it isn't live within the app yet).

"We're trying to nail down the dating advice side of it with the coach," Amori's founder, Alex Weitzman, told BI. Down the line, Amori's AI dating coach will help users find potential matches through the app.

Will it really work?

Despite the string of new apps, New York City matchmaker Nick Rosen said he thinks it won't be easy for friends and family to find users a perfect match.

Rosen said he typically works with a roster of 20 to 30 people at a time and keeps a rolodex of 3,000 available singles in New York City for his clients to meet.

When he starts working with a client, he does an extensive intake of a person's romantic history, which he says is an advantage of a professional matchmaker. Friends and family know you well, but maybe they don't know the entirety of your dating history and scars.

"People open up to me like a therapist," Rosen said.

Though friends and family might be excited at first to play Cupid, the exhausting reality of helping someone find love can wear off, Rosen said.

Still, he thinks matchmakers need to change with the times.

"If we want to make matchmaking more approachable and cooler to people, we need to go and start having our own apps," he said.

• Palmer Luckey said his firing from Facebook changed his approach to business relationships.
• Luckey was ousted after donating to a pro-Donald Trump group, affecting his reputation.
• He went on to found Anduril Industries, a $14 billion defense startup.

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey said his frosty departure from Facebook years ago changed the way he approaches business deals.

The billionaire was ousted from the tech company, which bought Oculus in 2014, in 2016 after a report that he'd donated to a pro-Donald Trump group. Luckey went on to become the founder and face of Anduril Industries, a tech defense startup reportedly worth $14 billion, but he told Fortune that the dramatic firing changed how he approaches business.

It's still on his mind almost a decade later. Fortune reported that Luckey now asks himself specific questions when it comes to dealing with new people.

"What is the worst situation I could end up in with this person or this company? If this goes south, what is the worst thing that could happen to me?"

He said he often assumes a "person is gonna try to f–k me" when going into conversations. Luckey, who is worth $2.4 billion, according to Forbes, issued an apology when his Trump donations were first reported but has since become vocal about his support of the president-elect.

Facebook, now Meta, has maintained that his firing wasn't related to politics, but Luckey has argued against its assertion in the past. He told Fortune that he regrets apologizing. Years after Luckey left the company, former Facebook and Oculus exec John Carmack expressed his own regret for not coming to his defense in the "witch hunt."

Now, as his defense company supplies weapons for the Russia-Ukraine war, he said he's working on his reputation in the business world.

"I cannot accomplish anything of significance if I don't care what people think of me," Luckey said to Fortune.

He added, "And that is what I'm most terrified of at this point."