Financial Services, January 10 (Editor Niu Zhanlin) Following Amazon, Meta, and Apple, tech giants Google and Microsoft have also joined the ranks of donors to Trump's Inaugural Fund.

On Thursday local time, Microsoft announced a donation of 1 million dollars to Trump's inaugural fund in an attempt to strengthen its relationship with the new administration. Prior to that, other tech leaders also donated the same amount of money.

In the US, after winning the presidential election, a candidate will appoint an inaugural committee to organize and fund inaugural events, such as opening ceremonies, dinners, and parades. Unlike campaign donations, there is no so-called upper limit on contributions to the US Presidential Inaugural Committee.

A Microsoft spokesperson claims that during Trump's first term, the company donated $0.5 million to Trump's inaugural fund.

Tech companies have always been the target of intense criticism from Trump and his allies, and they haven't shied away from criticizing the industry after the election. And as the Republicans are about to take control of the White House and both houses of Congress and call for new regulation of the tech industry, some business executives are adjusting their stance on Trump.

Trump wrote on December 4 last year: “Big tech companies have been acting recklessly for years to stifle competition in our most innovative fields. As we all know, they have used their market power to infringe on the rights of so many Americans, as well as the rights of small tech companies!”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has met Trump many times. The company hopes that under Trump's leadership, the US government will push artificial intelligence (AI) policies in a favorable direction.

Microsoft Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith published an article last week saying, “America needs a smart international strategy to support the development of artificial intelligence technology in the US on a global scale.”

Google also announced the donation earlier this week, and its head of global government affairs and public policy, Karan Bhatia, also said, “Google is excited to support the 2025 presidential inauguration and will be live streaming it on YouTube while providing a direct link on our homepage. In addition to technical support, funds will also be donated to employment funds.”

Earlier, Google CEO Sundar Pichai met with Trump, and Pichai publicly congratulated Trump on his “decisive victory” on social media.

OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman personally donated $1 million to the Trump Inaugural Fund last month instead of using the OpenAI name.

Meta announced this week that it will stop fact-checking and lift restrictions on speech on Facebook and Instagram, indicating that US political trends have greatly accelerated the pace at which social media giants are abandoning censorship on platforms.

Additionally, Meta removed restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender, and implemented new policy enforcement methods that focus on illegal and serious violations.

Zuckerberg paid tribute to Platform X on Tuesday. He said that Meta is eliminating fact-checkers and will replace them with a system called “community notes” starting in the US. This system is similar to the one used on Musk's X platform.

Trump praised Meta's changes during a press conference. When asked if he thought Meta CEO Zuckerberg was “directly responding to threats you have made to him in the past,” Trump replied, “Probably.”