# Meta The social media conglomerate founded as **Facebook** in 2004 by **[[Mark Zuckerberg]]**, rebranded to **Meta Platforms** in October 2021. Operates Facebook (3B+ monthly users), [[Instagram]] (2B+), [[WhatsApp]] (2B+), Threads, and the Quest VR/AR hardware line. Market cap ~$1.5T+ as of 2026. One of the largest AI companies in the world through its **Llama** open-weight model family. Meta appears throughout this KB across several dimensions: as an **AI frontier company** (open-weight models competing with [[OpenAI]] and [[Google]]), as a **defense contractor** (via [[Meta Defense]]), as the central battleground of the **content moderation / censorship debate**, as a vehicle for **election interference** (2016 Russian operations, [[Cambridge Analytica]]), and as a case study in **tech-oligarch political realignment** under the second Trump administration. ## AI Meta's AI strategy is distinctive: **open-weight release** of frontier-class models (the Llama family), giving away for free what [[OpenAI]] and [[Google]] charge for. This strategy serves Meta's business interests (developers build on Llama → Meta's ecosystem grows → Meta's data and advertising moat deepens) while positioning Zuckerberg as the "open" alternative to OpenAI's closed approach. Key AI assets: - **Llama** model family — open-weight foundation models; Llama 3 (2024) and successors competitive with GPT-4 class models - **FAIR** (Fundamental AI Research) — Meta's research lab, led by Yann LeCun (Turing Award winner, vocal AI-optimist) - **Massive compute infrastructure** — Meta is one of the world's largest purchasers of NVIDIA GPUs and is building custom AI chips ## The political realignment Meta's relationship with the right has undergone a dramatic reversal: **2016–2020: Enemy.** Facebook was the primary target of conservative "Big Tech censorship" campaigns. Accusations of biased content moderation, suppression of conservative news, and platforming of liberal media at conservatives' expense. Trump was banned after January 6, 2021 — the defining act of "tech censorship" in right-wing discourse. **2021–2024: Accommodation.** Under pressure from Republican attorneys general, congressional investigations, and the threat of Section 230 repeal, Meta progressively weakened content moderation, disbanded its misinformation team, and signaled neutrality. Zuckerberg's 2024 letter to the [[House Judiciary Committee]], in which he said the Biden administration had "pressured" Meta to censor content, was a major realignment moment. **2025–2026: Alignment.** Zuckerberg visited Mar-a-Lago, attended Trump's inauguration, donated to the inaugural fund, and has adopted a conspicuously Trump-friendly posture. Meta dropped its DEI programs (January 2025), ended fact-checking partnerships in favor of "community notes," and has generally positioned itself as aligned with the administration's deregulatory and anti-censorship agenda. This arc — from Trump's biggest tech enemy to a company whose CEO dines at Mar-a-Lago — is one of the cleanest illustrations of how political power reshapes corporate behavior in the tech industry. ## Defense Meta's defense work is documented at [[Meta Defense]]. The company's military and intelligence community engagement has grown significantly since the rebranding, though it remains less visible than [[Google Defense]] or Microsoft's defense portfolio. ## KB significance Meta is the **platform** on which much of the right-wing media ecosystem operates. Facebook Groups were a primary distribution channel for election denial content, anti-vax organizing, and QAnon. Instagram is the platform where the [[Paid Political Influencers]] economy operates. WhatsApp is used for political organizing globally, including in authoritarian contexts. Understanding Meta's moderation decisions, algorithmic choices, and political positioning is essential context for almost every media and information-ecosystem page in the KB. ## See Also - [[Facebook Timeline]] — detailed chronological timeline from 2003 Facemash to present - [[Meta Defense]] — military and intelligence contracting - [[Mark Zuckerberg]] — founder and CEO - [[Section 230]] — the legal framework governing content moderation - [[Surveillance Capitalism]] — the business model - [[Google]] — peer company and AI competitor - [[OpenAI]] — AI competitor (closed model approach vs. Meta's open-weight)