Mark Zuckerberg had a quiet dinner with Trump at White House in October – CNET

Mark Zuckerberg joined President Donald Trump for a previously undisclosed dinner at the White House in October, when the Facebook CEO was in Washington to testify before Congress about cryptocurrency Libra and got grilled over the social network’s decision to not fact-check politicians’ ads. Facebook confirmed that the meeting took place.

“As is normal for a CEO of a major US company, Mark accepted an invitation to have dinner with the President and First Lady at the White House,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Facebook board member Peter Thiel — one of Trump’s highest-profile supporters in the tech industry — was at the dinner as well, according to NBC News, which previously reported on it. What they actually talked about and the reason why the dinner wasn’t mentioned before now remains unclear.

Zuckerberg also had a “good, constructive” meeting with Trump in September, in the wake of the president accusing social media sites of being biased against conservatives.

The president joined another tech boss, Apple’s Tim Cook, to tour a Mac Pro production facility in Texas on Wednesday.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

First published at 3:17 a.m. PT.
Updated at 3:41 a.m. PT: Adds more detail.