Three new people have joined Meta. One is the boss of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

This occurs at a time when Meta's board appears to be shifting politically in the wake of Trump's election victory in the US.

On Monday, January 7, 2025, Meta announced that Dana White, the CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and a supporter of Republican candidate and newly elected US President Donald Trump, will join the company's board of directors.

"Until I received the offer to join Meta's board, I had no interest in joining a board of directors," White stated in a statement. "I am a huge believer that social media and AI are the future."

According to a Business Insider report, this occurs at a time when Meta's board appears to be shifting its political stance.

For instance, earlier this month, Joel Kaplan, who is presently Meta's vice president of global public policy and has ties to the Republican party, replaced Nick Clegg, a former head of the UK's Liberal Democrats party and the company's former president of global affairs.

White has been a close associate of Trump since 2001, and the two have frequently been seen together at events.

White has given speeches at the Republican conventions in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and Trump has also attended a number of UFC bouts.

In addition, this shift in leadership stands in sharp contrast to the years of hostility between Meta and Trump, during which the business banned Trump in 2021 for allegedly applauding "people engaged in violence at the Capitol on January 6."

Trump then filed lawsuits against the CEOs of Facebook, Google, and Twitter, alleging that they had illegally censored him.

Nevertheless, Trump and founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had persisted in publicly criticizing the platforms even after his accounts were restored two years later.

After Meta pledged $1 million to Trump's presidential inauguration fund after his election, everything changed.

In addition, Meta included tech investor Charlie Songhurst and John Elkann, CEO of Exor, one of the biggest European investment firms.

Zuckerberg stated, "Dana, John, and Charlie will contribute a depth of knowledge and viewpoint that will assist us in addressing the enormous opportunities that lie ahead with AI, wearables, and the future of human connection."