Mark Zuckerberg

In May 2025, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announced it would end its statewide housing and homelessness investments in California by 2026, just one year after Priscilla Chan celebrated the initiative's five-year anniversary and its mission to 'improve housing affordability and promote racial equity.' CZI also laid off staff on its community team addressing affordable housing and economic inclusion. Grantee organizations lost significant funding; Juan Hernandez of Creser Capital Fund reported losing $500,000, roughly one-third of his nonprofit's funding.

In April 2025, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative formally ended its funding of FWD.us, the immigration reform advocacy group Zuckerberg co-founded in 2013 with an op-ed calling for comprehensive immigration reform. Well over half of the roughly $400 million donated to FWD.us since its founding came through CZI. By late 2022, CZI had begun pivoting away from social advocacy, and the break was formalized in April 2025. The timing aligned with Zuckerberg's broader rightward political recalibration during the Trump era.

On February 18, 2025, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative disbanded its diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility team, just 39 days after reassuring concerned staff on January 10 that Meta's DEI cuts would not affect CZI. CZI COO Marc Malandro cited 'the shifting regulatory and legal landscape.' CZI also canceled its $1.5 million Science Diversity Leadership Awards, ended its Diverse Slate Practice for hiring, scrubbed all DEI references from its website, and laid off staff working on affordable housing and economic inclusion. The move followed Meta's own DEI rollback and Zuckerberg's $1M Trump inauguration donation.

On January 20, 2025, Mark Zuckerberg attended Donald Trump's second presidential inauguration with priority seating ahead of Cabinet members, alongside Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Zuckerberg also co-hosted an inaugural reception.

In November 2024, Zuckerberg met with Trump at a Mar-a-Lago dinner where he demonstrated Meta's Ray-Ban Smart Glasses and gifted a pair to Trump. In December 2024, Meta donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee. The dinner and donation preceded a series of policy shifts at Meta aligning with Trump administration preferences, including ending fact-checking and rolling back DEI programs. This marked a sharp political realignment for Zuckerberg, who had previously been more associated with Democratic causes.

Facebook's internal research found that 13.5% of teen girls said Instagram worsened suicidal thoughts and 17% said it worsened eating disorders. 32% of teen girls said Instagram made them feel worse about their bodies. Despite knowing these harms, Facebook continued prioritizing engagement and growth. In October 2021, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen disclosed tens of thousands of internal documents to the SEC and Wall Street Journal showing the company was aware of the toxic risks to teenage girls' mental health. During Senate testimony, Haugen stated 'Facebook repeatedly encountered conflicts between its own profits and our safety. Facebook consistently resolved those conflicts in favor of its own profits.' Zuckerberg called her claims a 'false picture' and was criticized for posting about sailing while the 60 Minutes interview aired. He refused to testify before Congress. Haugen noted that Zuckerberg's controlling stake means he is 'accountable only to himself.'

In July 2019, the FTC imposed a record $5 billion fine on Facebook for privacy violations stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal and broader data practices. The settlement included unprecedented personal accountability measures for Zuckerberg, who was required to certify Facebook's privacy compliance. Meta shareholders subsequently sued Zuckerberg and other directors seeking to hold them personally liable for the fines, which settled for $190 million in November 2025. The fine reflected the FTC's finding that Facebook repeatedly violated its 2012 consent order regarding user data practices.

On April 10-11, 2018, Mark Zuckerberg testified before the Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, facing questions from nearly 100 lawmakers about Facebook's role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. He stated 'It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here.' This was a rare instance of a tech CEO accepting personal accountability before Congress.

Cambridge Analytica harvested data from 87 million Facebook users without consent through a third-party app, using it for political targeting in 2016 election. When Facebook learned of the breach in 2015, Zuckerberg took Cambridge Analytica's word they deleted the data without verification and failed to notify the FTC or affected users. In April 2018 Congressional testimony, Zuckerberg admitted personal responsibility for the failures. Facebook received a record $5 billion FTC fine, $100 million SEC fine for misleading investors, and a $725 million class action settlement.

Between 2012-2018, Facebook's recommendation algorithms systematically amplified hate speech and disinformation against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority. UN investigators concluded this played a 'determining role' in inciting genocide. The Myanmar military used Facebook as a tool for ethnic cleansing propaganda over multiple years. Over 10,000 Rohingya were killed in 2017 and more than 740,000 forced to flee. Facebook knew its algorithms amplified harmful content from internal studies dating to 2012, but failed to adequately invest in content moderation. Zuckerberg was presented with options to remove algorithmic amplification in April 2020 but chose not to. Facebook apologized in April 2018 but civil rights groups dismissed it as 'grossly insufficient.' Rohingya refugees filed a $150 billion lawsuit in 2021; a survivor filed SEC whistleblower complaint in January 2025.

In December 2016, companies controlled by Mark Zuckerberg filed eight 'quiet title' lawsuits targeting hundreds of Native Hawaiians who held small parcels of ancestral kuleana land within his 700-acre Kauai estate purchased for $100 million. The lawsuits sought forced public auctions of these parcels, some dating to the 1850s. A Change.org petition opposing the suits gathered over 378,000 signatures. Critics called it 'neocolonialism.' Zuckerberg withdrew the lawsuits on January 27, 2017, apologizing and stating 'it's clear we made a mistake.' He subsequently donated millions to local organizations and continued acquiring additional land, expanding his holdings to roughly 1,500 acres.

On December 1, 2015, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan announced in an open letter to their newborn daughter Max that they would give away 99% of their Facebook shares over their lifetimes through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The pledge was valued at approximately $45 billion at the time. CZI focuses on personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people, and building strong communities. As of 2025, CZI has committed over $7.22 billion in grants. However, CZI is structured as an LLC rather than a charitable foundation, giving it more flexibility but also less regulatory oversight.