Warren calls newly reported Zuckerberg-Trump dinner ‘corruption’

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a 2020 White House hopeful, on Thursday called a newly revealed dinner between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and President Trump at the White House “corruption, plain and simple.”

“Amid antitrust scrutiny, Facebook is going on a charm offensive with Republican lawmakers,” Warren tweeted.

“And now, Mark Zuckerberg and one of Facebook’s board members—a major Trump donor—had a secret dinner with Trump.” 

Amid antitrust scrutiny, Facebook is going on a charm offensive with Republican lawmakers. And now, Mark Zuckerberg and one of Facebook’s board members—a major Trump donor—had a secret dinner with Trump. This is corruption, plain and simple. https://t.co/KNUtZanylC

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) November 21, 2019 

NBC News first reported the dinner, which occurred in October, on Wednesday.

Zuckerberg and Facebook board member Peter Thiel, a staunch Trump supporter and donor, met with the president and first lady Melania Trump at the White House while the CEO was in town to testify about Facebook’s new cryptocurrency, Libra.

A spokesperson for Facebook confirmed the meeting in a statement to The Hill.

“As is normal for a CEO of a major US company, Mark accepted an invitation to have dinner with the President and First Lady at the White House,” they said.

The meeting was the second between Trump and Zuckerberg in as many months. Zuckerberg visited the White House in September during a trip in which he met with lawmakers to discuss their concerns about internet regulation. 

While Facebook has been dogged with unsubstantiated allegations of anti-conservative bias, the company’s executives have met with several prominent figures on the right in recent months.

Warren, a vocal critic of big tech companies like Facebook, on Thursday pointed to the social media giant’s ongoing scrutiny from regulators as a reason why the meeting was inappropriate.

The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department are currently probing the country’s largest and most powerful tech companies over antitrust concerns.

Warren has called for the biggest companies to be broken up as part of her presidential platform.