Financial Associated Press, January 10 news (Editor: Niu Zhanlin) Following $Amazon (AMZN.US)$ 、 $Meta Platforms (META.US)$ and $Apple (AAPL.US)$ after that, Technology giants $Alphabet-C (GOOG.US)$ and $Microsoft (MSFT.US)$ Also joined the ranks of donating to the Trump Inaugural Fund.

On Thursday local time, Microsoft announced it would donate 1 million USD to Trump's inauguration Fund in an effort to strengthen ties with the new government. Prior to this, other tech leaders also made donations of the same amount.

In the USA, a candidate appoints an inauguration committee to organize and fund inauguration activities such as the opening ceremony, dinners, and parades after winning the presidential election. Unlike campaign donations, donations to the US presidential inauguration committee do not have a so-called limit.

A Microsoft spokesperson claimed that during Trump's first term, the company had already donated 0.5 million USD to Trump's inauguration Fund.

Technology companies have been targets of fierce criticism from Trump and his allies, and they have not shied away from critiquing the industry even after the election. As Republicans are about to control the White House and both houses of Congress, and are calling for new regulation of the tech industry, some corporate executives are adjusting their stance towards Trump.

On December 4 of last year, Trump stated: "Large tech companies have run amok for years, stifling competition in our most innovative fields. It is well known that they use 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 with Trump multiple times, and the company hopes that under Trump's leadership, the US government will promote AI policies in a favorable direction.

Microsoft's Vice Chairman and President Brad Smith stated in an article released last week: "The USA needs a wise international Global Strategy to support the development of AI technology in the USA globally."

Google also announced its donations earlier this week. Its Global Government Affairs and Public Policy Executive Director, Karan Bhatia, stated: "Google is pleased to support the 2025 presidential inauguration, which will be livestreamed on YouTube with a direct link available on our homepage. In addition to technical support, funding will also be donated to the inauguration Fund."

Previously, Google CEO Sundar Pichai met with Trump, and Pichai publicly congratulated Trump on Social Media for his "decisive victory."

Last month, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman made a personal donation of 1 million dollars to Trump's inauguration Fund, rather than using OpenAI’s name.

This week, Meta announced it will stop fact-checking and lift speech restrictions on Facebook and Instagram, indicating that the political climate in the USA has significantly accelerated the pace at which Social Media giants are abandoning platform speech censorship.

Furthermore, Meta lifted restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender and implemented a new policy enforcement approach, focusing on illegal and severe violations.

On Tuesday, Zuckerberg paid tribute to X platform. He stated that Meta is phasing out fact-checkers and will replace them with a system called "Community Notes" starting in the USA, which is similar to a system used on Musk's X platform.

Trump praised Meta's changes during a press conference. When asked if he thought Meta's CEO Zuckerberg was "directly responding to your past threats to him," Trump responded, "Maybe."

Editor/rice