Meta is seemingly still working to better align with the Trump Administration, and the expectations of the Trump White House around content and governance.
Which, given Meta’s ongoing battles with EU regulators, makes sense, as Meta continues to seek U.S. government support in pushing back against the billions in fines being regularly handed down to it by the EU Commission, as well as other regional penalties.
As reported by Axios, today, Meta has announced the appointment of C.J. Mahoney as its new chief legal officer, who formerly served as a senior legal exec at Microsoft. Mahoney was also a U.S. Trade Representative during President Trump’s first term, and has ongoing ties to the Trump Administration and the Republican party.
The appointment adds to the various Republicans that Meta has promoted to senior roles since Trump won the 2024 election, which also includes Joel Kaplan, who’s now Meta’s global affairs chief, and Kevin Martin, who’s its vice president of global public policy.
Having these figures in key roles that relate to content and Meta’s legal stance will give them a front row seat to Meta’s battles with EU regulators, and as Meta comes under more scrutiny, due to ever-evolving DSA regulations, that could help to give Meta a more direct path to the White House in seeking its backing in opposing EU fines.
Meta has long criticized EU regulations as being targeted towards Meta specifically, as a means to penalize the company for its success. That’s an angle that the U.S. government supports, as it relates to penalizing American companies on the global stage.
The White House has pledged its support in opposing at least some level of EU regulation and restrictions based on this, though, thus far, it’s stopped short of implementing trade penalties, or similar, in response to EU fines.
Though that may also be on the cards.
Last month, after Elon Musk’s X was hit with a €120 million ($US140 million) EU fine for breaches of its DSA obligations relating to transparency, key U.S. government figures, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, criticized the penalty, calling it “an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments.”
Which would be music to Meta’s ears, as again, this is exactly what it’s been hoping to get out of its efforts to better align with the Trump team, with Meta paying over $US1 billion in EU fines every year.
And with global tensions rising, and the U.S. looking to exert its authority, maybe now, with more direct connection to the Trump team in place, Meta is better positioned to oppose such fines in future, which could also open up its path to expanding its AI products in Europe.
Of course, Mahoney is also a respected voice, and clearly an experiences professional in his own right, so it’s not just more alignment with the White House that Meta gains from this appointment.
But it definitely helps, and adds to Meta’s case to win favor from the Trump team.
