Final Combating Championship head honcho Dana White revealed that he’s already made modifications to Meta since taking a seat on its board of administrators final month.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, White mentioned that he has already “had some situations” that he has “dealt with” since January.
Whereas the board of administrators is predicted to satisfy in particular person for the primary time this month—suggesting extra modifications are to come back—White shared that they’ve already began hashing it out over Zoom conferences.
“I know what my role is there,” he instructed Carlson.
White is notoriously anti-censorship. In his personal realm of UFC, he needed to handle a latest controversy over blended martial arts fighter Bryce Mitchell, who referred to as Hitler a “good guy” throughout a podcast look. Whereas White condemned Mitchell’s statements throughout a press briefing, he didn’t take punitive motion in opposition to the fighter.
And within the political ring, White—like Zuckerberg—has a noticeable stake in President Donald Trump’s administration.
Whereas White has been buddies with Trump for many years, his alliance with Zuckerberg is newer and extra sudden.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg
The freshly permed Zuck, who mentioned on Joe Rogan’s podcast that he desires corporations to have extra “masculine” vitality, has been making modifications to his social media empire that seem to realize the favor of the Proper.
These remarks, together with White’s addition to Meta’s board of administrators, all appear to coincide with the large modifications introduced on the firm.
In different phrases, the timing appears to counsel that UFC’s anti-censorship boss may need additionally had a say in Meta’s slashing of its unbiased truth checkers, who had been as soon as used to struggle off troves of misinformation throughout elections and COVID-19.
Nonetheless, in a flip of occasions, Zuckerberg introduced that he felt the very fact checkers had been “too politically biased.”
“We’re going to work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more,” he added.
In the identical breath, Zuck killed Meta’s range, fairness, and inclusion initiatives, which was a well-liked transfer for corporations following Trump’s return to workplace, and declared that he’s shifting Meta’s headquarters to Texas—the place Elon Musk’s empire additionally lives.
However why would Zuckerberg, who campaigned so onerous in opposition to Trump eight years in the past, shift the tides now?
Whereas there’s no definitive reply, it might have one thing to do with Zuckerberg’s pending Federal Commerce Fee lawsuit over his 2014 buy of Instagram and WhatsApp. As of November 2024, Zuckerberg is about to go to trial for overpaying for the 2 apps to close out competitors. However with Trump on his aspect, he may need some luck.
Zuckerberg additionally had causes to cozy as much as Trump, given their newly settled lawsuit, wherein Meta paid Trump $25 million for suspending his Meta accounts following the revolt on Jan. 6, 2021.
As for the way forward for Meta, it should certainly be fascinating—and terrifying—to see the way it all performs out with the likes of White calling the pictures.
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