Zuckerberg intends to live in Washington in search of political influence

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the goal, explores the purchase of a property in Washington DC, signaling his intention to align with the Trump government and influence decisions about artificial intelligence and technological regulation

Mark Zuckerberg is exploring the purchase of a property in Washington, DC, according to two people familiar with the matter, while the founding billionaire of the goal intensifies his efforts to shape the US President Donald Trump’s approach to the sector of technology.

A possible property has already been identified, said one of the sources. The 40 -year -old entrepreneur already has several properties in California, where is the headquarters of the goal, as well as a complex in Hawaii.

The movement signals Zuckerberg’s ambition to work closely with the Trump administration, the sources said, while he seeks a role in the influence of regulation in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (IA), which are increasingly important for the goal, owner of the Facebook and Instagram.

Zuckerberg said he intends to turn the goal, which has a market value of $ 1.7 trillion, the “leader” in AI, competing with rivals like OpenAi, Google and Microsoft.

A goal spokesman refused to comment.

Purchasing a property in Washington would be Zuckerberg’s latest attempt to approach Trump, who threatened to arrest the technology billionaire if he interfered with last year’s elections and called his company “enemy of the people” for allegedly censoring right -wing voices.

This month, the company has launched an unexpected reformulation of its content moderation, ending its third party fact verification program, a change well received by Trump and its allies. The goal also accused the Biden administration of previously pressuring the company to censor coronavirus pandemic content, for example.

Zuckerberg also replaced Goal Global Chief of Policies, Nick Clegg, with prominent Republican ally Joel Kaplan, and appointed Dana White, Trump’s martial arts and friend, to the Goal Council.

The billionaire was present in Trump’s inauguration, sitting behind the president with technology executives, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Trump returned to the White House at a crucial time for Silicon Valley, while the largest technology companies compete to become AI powers. Zuckerberg said he hopes to allocate between $ 60 billion and $ 65 billion in capital spending to strengthen the company’s efforts in AI, including the “significant” expansion of its teams.

However, so far, Trump’s attention has focused on his rivals. Last week, the president announced that OpenAi, Softbank and Oracle are forming a USA AI infrastructure joint venture, valued at $ 500 billion, called “Stargate”, praising the initiative as “a resonant statement of trust in the potential from America under a new president ”.

Some experts have observed a recent increase in luxury real estate sales in Washington, DC, a phenomenon nicknamed “Trump effect”, as executives bet that properties in the capital will help increase their influence with management.

Risk capitalist and businessman David Sacks, appointed as the new cryptocurrency tsar and Ai de Trump after supporting his campaign, bought a residence of $ 10 million in the US capital, according to documents seen by the Financial Times and a familiar person with the subject. Axios was the first to report the movement on Monday.

Elon Musk, who is leading the government efficiency department and working from the Spacex office in Washington, would also be seeking to invest in a DC property, causing negative reactions from residents of the Adams Morgan neighborhood.

The accurate contours of Musk’s role in the administration have not yet been outlined, but Trump denied last week that Musk will have an office in the White House.