Big Tech's inauguration hangover
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America's tech titans backed President Trump's promise of a new "Golden Age" with seven-figure checks, glowing public praise and front-row tickets to his inauguration.
- So far, those favors remain unreciprocated.
Why it matters: Big Tech has been in MAGA's crosshairs for years. Even as Trump revels in the industry's dramatic realignment and personal overtures, the core tensions in the relationship are far from resolved.
- The famously transactional president knows exactly how much leverage he has over "these internet people," as he referred to them last week.
- "You know, they all hated me in my first term," Trump mused during his commencement speech at the University of Alabama. "And now they're kissing my ass. All of them."
State of play: Most major corporations have suffered from Trump's hurricane of tariff announcements and the ensuing economic uncertainty. But for Big Tech, that's just the tip of the iceberg.
1. Meta, whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote the playbook on making up with Trumpworld in the weeks after the election, is nearly a month into an FTC antitrust trial over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
- The case was initially brought during Trump's first term, which ended with Trump being banned from Meta's platforms after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
- Zuckerberg's MAGA pivot and personal lobbying have failed to convince Trump or his FTC chair to drop the case, which could force Meta to break up its social media empire.
2. Google, which donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration, is facing two landmark antitrust cases from the Justice Department — one targeting its search dominance, the other its advertising business.
- A federal judge ruled last month that Google has maintained an illegal monopoly on online advertising, and DOJ attorneys feel confident that Google could be forced to sell off Chrome in the separate search case.
3. Apple, which in February announced a $500 million investment in the U.S. over the next four years, struck gold by persuading Trump to exempt phones, computers and chips from his China tariffs.
- But the relief may be short-lived: CEO Tim Cook warned the remaining tariffs still could cost Apple $900 million this quarter alone, even as the company diversifies its supply chain.
4. Amazon, which paid $40 million for a Melania Trump documentary, was accused by the White House of a "hostile and political act" last week after a report that it planned to display how tariffs were increasing product prices.
- Trump immediately called Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — and then publicly praised him for "[solving] the problem very quickly" after the company issued a statement denying the report.
- Amazon still faces a major antitrust trial in September, with Trump's FTC chair Andrew Ferguson recently vowing to "never back down from taking on Big Tech."
Between the lines: Elon Musk belongs in his own category — not just because the billionaire has become one of Trump's most powerful advisers, but because his companies have suffered enormous brand damage as a result.
- Tesla's sales and stock have slumped amid boycotts, tariff shocks and reputational fallout — particularly in Europe and China, where Musk's close alignment with Trump is a liability.
- SpaceX is largely thriving, however, and the Washington Post reports that the U.S. has encouraged countries facing the threat of tariffs to license Musk's Starlink.
The intrigue: Out of the major tech companies represented at the inauguration, the biggest winner may be a foreign one: TikTok.
- Trump has declined to enforce a law requiring TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app or face a U.S. ban.
- The White House has offered no timeline or enforcement plan, frustrating U.S. rivals who had hoped to take advantage of the popular app's disappearance.
The other side: There are a few key areas where tech CEOs are seeing upside from Trump.
- The administration has gone to bat for Apple and Meta in its fight against European antitrust fines and digital service taxes.
- It has also severely weakened the CFPB, which under Biden went after Big Tech's digital wallet plans.
What to watch: The Trump administration's full-throated embrace of AI development — and its rollback of Biden-era safety rules and export controls — has been tech's biggest overall win.
- That AI policy shift benefits companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Nvidia, but it's also a boon to Big Tech's own AI investments and their positioning for lucrative government contracts.
- OpenAI's Sam Altman and Microsoft's Brad Smith will testify on Capitol Hill Thursday at a Senate Commerce hearing on the topic of "removing restraints on the AI supply chain."
