Google donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund

Google donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, turning into the latest major tech company to attempt to curry some goodwill with the incoming administration.

“Google is happy to help the 2025 inauguration, with a livestream on YouTube and a direct hyperlink on our homepage. We’re additionally donating to the inaugural committee,” Karan Bhatia, Google’s international head of presidency affairs and public coverage, informed CNBC in a press release.  

The corporate made its donation on Monday. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta each introduced $1 million donations to the inaugural fund late final yr, and Amazon and Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner have additionally reportedly contributed.

After a candidate wins the presidential election within the U.S., they appoint an inaugural committee to arrange and finance inaugural occasions just like the opening ceremonies, galas and the parade. In contrast to a direct contribution to a candidate’s marketing campaign, there are not any limits on how a lot a person — or a company or labor group — can provide to an inaugural committee.

Google has donated to inaugurals up to now, and the YouTube livestream and hyperlink to the inauguration on Google’s homepage are in step with earlier inaugurations, a spokesperson stated.

Trump has had a rocky relationship with main tech corporations through the years and has not shied away from criticism of the sector following the election. He signaled late final yr that he would not rule out antitrust enforcement, which is a very sore spot for Google.

A U.S. district decide ruled in August that the corporate has illegally held a monopoly in search and textual content promoting. Arguments in a second antitrust case about Google’s advertising business closed in November, although a verdict has not but been introduced.

“Large Tech has run wild for years, stifling competitors in our most modern sector and, as everyone knows, utilizing its market energy to crack down on the rights of so many Individuals, in addition to these of Little Tech!” Trump wrote in a Dec. 4 put up on Truth Social. 

Former Alphabet President Sergey Brin and Google CEO Sundar Pichai met with Trump after the election, and Pichai publicly congratulated the president-elect on his “decisive victory” in a post on X.

Tech CEOs have made substantial strikes to publicly present their help for Trump and restore their relationship with the incoming president.

Meta on Tuesday introduced sweeping changes to its method to content material moderation throughout its platforms. The corporate eradicated its third-party fact-checking program in favor of a “Neighborhood Notes” mannequin, very like the one which exists on Elon Musk‘s X.

Moreover, Meta eliminated restrictions on topics like immigration and gender, and applied a brand new method to coverage enforcement that may concentrate on unlawful and high-severity violations. This implies fewer posts containing misinformation might be suppressed or taken down.

Trump lauded Meta’s modifications throughout a information convention Tuesday. When requested whether or not he believed Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was “immediately responding to the threats that you’ve made to him up to now,” Trump responded, “Most likely.”

— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.