Big Tech chiefs join Donald Trump in church and on inaugural stage

Heads of Apple, Meta, TikTok and others are guests of new president as he takes office

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In a surreal moment, the leaders of what some might describe as the six families of Big Tech put aside their business rivalries and political differences to join President Donald Trump for a church service right before his inauguration.

Tesla co-founder Elon Musk, Meta head Mark Zuckerberg, Apple chief executive Tim Cook, TikTok chief Shou Zi Chew, Google's chief Sundar Pichai and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos all joined Mr Trump at St John’s Episcopal Church near the White House.

It was an interesting venue for all the technology entrepreneurs to be seen. Silicon Valley, the place that gave birth to the powerhouse technology companies, is known for being secular, so the religious backdrop was a juxtaposition for the ages and yet a validating moment for the entire industry. Many of the technology titans also appeared in the US Capitol building during Mr Trump's inauguration.

From left: Priscilla Chan, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai and Tesla's Elon Musk at the inauguration. AFP

The appearance of TikTok's chief executive in Washington comes after more than a year of criticism from both Democrats and Republicans over the company's alleged connections to the Chinese Communist Party, which some say make it a threat to national security. For Mr Zuckerberg, his appearance at the Trump inauguration comes weeks after Meta controversially moved away from fact-checkers and months after the Facebook founder publicly criticised former US President Joe Biden.

For Tesla and X chief executive Mr Musk, the moment comes after an almost two-year journey during which the entrepreneur has increasingly espoused conservative positions.

As for Apple chief executive Mr Cook, during Mr Trump's first term in office, he reached out to employees to reassure them about the company's values. He later joined a White House panel during Mr Trump's first term on US job creation. This time around, several media reports indicated that Mr Cook personally donated to Mr Trump's inauguration funds.

Shou Zi Chew, chief executive of TikTok. EPA/Bloomberg

Other companies, like Microsoft, Meta and OpenAI, also made donations. Meanwhile, for Amazon founder Mr Bezos, his newspaper The Washington Post is facing a backlash after it refused to endorse Kamala Harris, in a move critics said was to try to curry favour with Mr Trump.

For Silicon Valley, however, the presence of so many technology chief executives is sure to be viewed as a culmination of decades of work that came to fruition with unprecedented influence within a superpower, for better or worse.

“Technology companies must take a crash course in 'spoken Maga' [Make America Great Again],” said Sam Blatteis, chief executive of The Mena Catalysts, a market entry firm for Web3 multinationals, who spoke with The National before the inauguration about the influence of technology companies in Washington. “It is a special language – different than how they communicated with the Biden White House.”

“The rise of Trump means the power gap is closing in Washington, and the ideological gap is widening with many far-flung parts of the tech epicentres of power,” he said, referring to the many efforts from technology leaders to try to curry favour in Washington.

Yet as President Trump continues to try to fill government positions, Mr Blatteis said those same technology leaders may have to continue adjusting their approach. “As Trump appoints an armada of new policymakers to run key tech-related agencies, who is running them, and how much real influence they have, is hard to pin down. It’s about quietly having the right conversations to ensure the right context is being understood by the key people reporting on the issue.”