Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg is aggressively lobbying the Trump administration to settle the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust case against the company before it goes to trial later this month, according to a report Wednesday.
The Facebook founder, who has tried to cozy up to President Trump since his election win, was spotted at the White House on Wednesday as the administration prepared to announce its latest trade policies, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The visit marked the third time that Zuckerberg has traveled to the White House since Trump took office. The terms of Meta’s proposed settlement were not known.
The FTC is seeking to break up Meta by unwinding its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. The agency has alleged that Meta bought the companies in order to stifle rising competitors before they could challenge its social media dominance. The trial is slated to begin on April 14.
Some Trump administration officials have chafed over Meta’s tactics and feel the company has been too aggressive in calling for a settlement, sources told the Journal.
Trump has reportedly yet to make a decision on whether to settle.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone declined to comment specifically on Zuckerberg’s appearance in the Oval Office.
“Mark’s continuing the meetings he’s been holding with the administration on American technology leadership,” Stone said in a statement.
Representatives for the White House did not immediately return a request for comment. The FTC declined comment.
Trump has asserted renewed authority over the FTC since taking office, issuing an executive order meant to give him more direct influence over the agency, which was traditionally seen as independent from the White House.
Last month, the president fired the agency’s two Democrat commissioners, who have since sued to reverse his move. Meanwhile, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, a Republican, has referred to the agency as the “Trump-Vance FTC” and backed the president’s decision.
Ferguson has vowed to remain aggressive in taking on anticompetitive behavior by Big Tech firms – and recently signaled that his agency was prepared to face off with Meta at trial.
“We’re gearing up for trial,” Ferguson told Bloomberg. “We’ve got some of the FTC’s best lawyers on it, and we’re getting ready to go. This trial has been five years in the making.”
Meta and Zuckerberg have also pushed the Trump administration to fight back against the European Union’s recent moves to fine American tech firms for violating its own competition rules.
As The Post has reported, the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust watchdog, is expected to slap Meta with a fine that could exceed $1 billion for noncompliance with its sweeping Digital Markets Act.
Meta has been pushing Trump officials to intervene as part of an effort to weaken the penalty or even nix it altogether.
