Trump hosted secret White House meeting with Facebook CEO

President Trump hosted an undisclosed meeting at the White House with Mark Zuckerberg during the Facebook CEO’s most recent trip to Washington, according to NBC News. 

The October meeting, which Facebook confirmed to The Hill, came during the same trip during which Zuckerberg testified before Congress about the platform’s new cryptocurrency, Libra. Peter Thiel, a billionaire venture capitalist and Facebook board member, was also in attendance at the White House dinner, NBC News reported.

{mosads}It remains unclear what was discussed during the meeting, which came at a time when Zuckerberg adamantly worked to defend Facebook’s new policy exempting political ads from fact-checking. Zuckerberg gave a speech at Georgetown University standing by Facebook’s commitment to free speech during his most recent visit. 

“As is normal for a CEO of a major U.S. company, Mark accepted an invitation to have dinner with the President and First Lady at the White House,” a Facebook spokesperson told The Hill.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. 

The meeting was the second in as many months that Trump and Zuckerberg have had. Zuckerberg visited the White House in September during a trip to Washington, D.C.,  in which he met with lawmakers to discuss their concerns about internet regulation. 

A Facebook spokesperson said at the time that the two had a “constructive meeting.”

Trump has repeatedly criticized Facebook and other social media platforms during his time in office, often accusing the companies of exhibiting a bias against conservatives. Thiel has also become one of the few outspoken conservatives in Silicon Valley. 

NBC News’s report came the same day that Trump met with Apple CEO Tim Cook while touring an Apple manufacturing plant in Austin. The trip came as Cook works to keep Apple products exempt from the administration’s new tariffs on China.