It was only a little more than a decade ago that Mark Zuckerberg had few qualms about airing his politics. Earnest and optimistic, he rushed onto the national stage to discuss issues he cared about: immigration, social justice, inequality, democracy in action. He penned columns in national newspapers espousing his views, spun up foundations and philanthropic efforts, and hired hundreds of people to put his vast riches to work on his political goals.
That was Mark Zuckerberg in his 20s. Mark Zuckerberg in his 40s is a very different Mark Zuckerberg. In conversations over the past few years with friends, colleagues, and advisers, Mr. Zuckerberg has expressed cynicism about politics after years of bad experiences in Washington. He and others at the top of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, believed that both parties loathed technology and that trying to continue engaging with political causes would only draw further scrutiny to their company.
As recently as June at the Allen and Company conference, the “summer camp for billionaires” in Sun Valley, Idaho, Mr. Zuckerberg complained to multiple people about the blowback to Meta that came from the more politically touchy aspects of his philanthropic efforts. And he regretted hiring employees at his philanthropy who tried to push him further to the left on some causes.
In short, he was over it.
In public, that means Mr. Zuckerberg is declining to engage with Washington except when necessary. In private, he has stopped supporting programs at his philanthropy that could be perceived as partisan, and he has tamped down employee activism at Meta, said these people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to do so or did not want to jeopardize their relationships with Mr. Zuckerberg.
He has also spoken to former President Donald J. Trump in one-on-one telephone calls twice over the summer, these people said, a move that some have characterized as an attempt to repair his long-strained relationship with the two men.
The political environment, I think I didn’t have much sophistication around, and I think I just fundamentally misdiagnosed the problem, Mr. Zuckerberg said in a recent interview at a live podcast event in San Francisco.
Last month, Mr. Zuckerberg publicly expressed regret around some of his political activity in a letter to Congress. He said that in 2021, the Biden administration “pressured” Meta into censoring more Covid-19 content than Mr. Zuckerberg felt comfortable with. And he said he would not repeat the contributions he made in 2020 to support electoral infrastructure because the gifts made him appear not “neutral.”
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