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When Peter Thiel announced that he was donating money to the Trump campaign during the President-elect’s run for office, Mark Zuckerberg came to his defense, saying that Thiel was free to have his own political beliefs. At the time, the Facebook Founder was criticized for what many in the tech industry considered was promoting the victory of a dangerous demagogue. However, new details surfaced to suggest that Zuckerberg’s defense of his fellow tech billionaire might be his way to curry favor.
The Guardian recently reported on a particular exchange of text messages between Mark Zuckerberg and billionaire investor Marc Andreessen, indicating his intention to hold public office. Andreessen is one of the shareholders at Facebook that expressed substantial support for Zuckerberg to remain in power should he proceed to become a government official. As a result, there is now a lawsuit filed by a shareholder, basically accusing Andreessen of not representing the common good of the investors.
During the text exchange, both Zuckerberg and Andreessen were discussing how to bring up the proposal for the Facebook CEO to hold public office without losing control of the social network. The discussion was low on specifics, especially with regards to the type of office that Zuckerberg wants to be involved in.
However, it is clear that the tech figure is considering entering the government and that the pair knows how uncomfortable it’s going to make the shareholders. More than that, it also casts a shadow on Zuckerberg’s defense of Thiel, which he tried to frame as a matter of freedom of speech.
As Business Insider reports, Thiel is now the biggest connection that Silicon Valley has with the Trump administration. If Zuckerberg wants a high-level government position, the best way for him to get it is through the tech industry pariah. There’s no evidence that the Facebook CEO is planning on asking Thiel for anything, but there’s no denying the possibility that he might.
