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Mark Zuckerberg<\/strong> has gone from Donald Trump<\/strong>\u2019s enemies list<\/a> to the Mar-a-Lago guest list in less than a year\u2019s time, and enjoyed a prime seat at the inauguration with his fellow tech titans<\/a>. On this episode, host and Vanity Fair<\/em> editor in chief Radhika Jones,<\/strong> as well as executive editor Claire Howorth<\/strong> and Hive editor Michael Calderone,<\/strong> trace Zuckerberg\u2019s transformation of Meta alongside the Facebook cofounder\u2019s own style upgrade and desire for more \u201cmasculine energy\u201d in the corporate world. Will Zuckerberg survive\u2014and perhaps, even thrive\u2014in a second Trump term?<\/p>\n But first, let\u2019s rewind a bit: Zuckerberg, now 40, became a nationally known entity in his early 20s, around 2004, when Facebook first launched. He initially presented<\/a> as an awkward but anodyne boy wonder beating the drum of disruption and innovation. Much of the \u201clore around him,\u201d Jones notes, was later \u201ccemented\u201d by his dramatis personae in the 2010 film The Social Network.<\/em> \u201cHere\u2019s this guy who feels a little bit shut out. He wants to get the girl. He wants to be in the cool clubs at Harvard. And he starts this social network, in part to create a space where he is in charge and can sort of profit from other people connecting,\u201d she says. \u201cBut if you give Zuckerberg the benefit of the doubt and you say, all right, well, he really wanted to connect people. He also ends up representing the arc of the internet\u2026from this very optimistic place where you\u2019re going to hang out with your friends to something that\u2019s way more dystopian and cynical.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, Facebook itself played a major role in shaping that negative perception. During the 2016 election, Russian operatives used<\/a> the platform to spread divisive and misleading election content in order to aid Trump\u2019s campaign. A year later, the platform was heavily criticized<\/a> for failing to clamp down on hate speech that helped fuel a genocide in Myanmar. The hits kept coming: In 2018, it was revealed<\/a> that Cambridge Analytica surreptitiously harvested Facebook\u2019s user data for the purpose of political advertising, raising major concerns about social media\u2019s role in undermining user privacy and elections. And then there was the notorious release of the \u201cFacebook files<\/a>,\u201d in which whistleblower Frances Haugen<\/strong> alleged that the site knowingly harmed teen mental health and did virtually nothing by way of remedy. (Meta has said they are committed to providing teens with a safe online experience.)<\/p>\n Over the years, scandals like these eventually chipped away at Zuckerberg\u2019s image as a relatively harmless, hoodie-wearing whiz kid, and recast him as just another cold, calculating billionaire. But what, exactly, accounts for his MAGA-morphosis? Calderone, for one, has two running theories: One involves Sheryl Sandberg,<\/strong> who, as chief operating officer of Facebook until 2022, apparently<\/a> rankled Zuckerberg by creating a culture of diversity and inclusivity at Facebook. The other theory has to do with Zuckerberg\u2019s belief in \u201cfree speech<\/a>\u201d; the entrepreneur has long bristled<\/a> at concerns that his platform amplifies misinformation and hate speech, and has sought to abdicate responsibility for limiting either.<\/p>\n Needless to say, with the return of Trump, who has railed against all things DEI, Zuckerberg appears to be feeling more at peace<\/a> with himself than ever. He now regularly dons baggy black tees, gold chains, a quasi-mullet, and not to mention an entirely transformed body thanks to a rigorous workout routine and a love of Brazilian jiujitsu. As for Meta, the CEO donated heavily to Trump\u2019s inauguration, single-handedly ended the platform\u2019s fact-checking program, and installed UFC CEO Dana White<\/strong> as a member of the board. \u201cHe\u2019s talking about bringing more masculine energy into the company,\u201d Calderone explains. \u201cThis is a company where the majority of employees are male, so it\u2019s not just about bringing men into it, it\u2019s about bringing a certain type of energy, and his frustrations with corporations becoming more \u2018neutered<\/a>.\u2019\u201d \u201cHe\u2019s talking not just about his own personal experience with working out and training and fighting, but something that Meta is lacking, or something that Meta or corporations in general have kind of veered away from.\u201d<\/p>\n Zuckerberg\u2019s latest displays of machismo might attract a lot of attention. But, as Howorth argues, they hardly guarantee an outsize influence in Trump 2.0. \u201cI think he\u2019s peaked. His influence is on the wane. Threads? Users are down. WhatsApp? Users are down. Instagram engagement is declining. Facebook users are dropping among young people,\u201d she explains. \u201cThose are not thriving business markers and he\u2019s behind in the biggest game of all, which is AI. So yeah, I can see he\u2019s despo. Pressure\u2019s on. And, you know, he\u2019s got a bad perm.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n