Peter Thiel has officially stepped down from the Meta board, a position he has held since Facebook was in its infancy. The company announced that Thiel would leave the board in February.
Now, Thiel looks ready to spend more of his time, attention and money supporting conservative political candidates before the midterms. He is already a top donor to Ohio senate candidate JD Vance and Arizona senate candidate Blake Masters, former president of the Thiel foundation. Thiel recently spent another $ 3.5 million on the Masters campaign.
Thiel has become one of Meta’s most controversial figures. Although conservatives have accused Facebook of censorship and liberal bias, liberals have often accused Thiel of favoring conservatives and forcing the social media giant to surrender to former President Donald Trump and his supporters. Shortly after the 2016 election, calls rose for Facebook to sever ties with Thiel because of his close relationship with President Trump.
Mark Zuckerberg publicly rejected that idea in a livestream in 2017, and said, “I personally believe that if you want to have a company focused on diversity, you have to be committed to all kinds of diversity, including diversity. ideology.
“I think people who say we shouldn’t have someone on our board because they’re a Republican, I think that’s crazy.”
As Trump and his acolytes soured against the tech industry-particularly after Trump was banned from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube after the Jan. 6 riot-Thiel’s position on the board has become increasingly awkward. Suddenly, he supported the candidates for office – Vance and Masters among them – who were openly campaigning against Big Tech. The masters, in particular, were among those who attended a recent screening at Mar-a-Lago of Niligpita documentary that says Zuckerberg bought the 2020 election for President Biden through a $ 419 million donation to election infrastructure.
But Thiel’s departure won’t cure Meta’s board of controversy. The company also counts Marc Andreessen as a board member. Andreessen, who is a billionaire, has also rapped attacks against what he calls the “elite ruling class.” His firm a16z has partnered with Elon Musk in his bid to acquire Twitter, which could create a potential conflict of interest. Earlier this year, a group of Meta shareholders moved to oust Andreessen from the board, as well as Peggy Alford, another board member whose shareholders dispute was too opposed to be considered independent.
Thiel has been part of Facebook’s story since its early days when he invested $ 500,000 in the company and secured a seat on its board in 2005. In a statement earlier this year when announcing the departure of Thiel, Zuckerberg said, “Peter was truly an original thinker that you could take your hardest problem and get unique suggestions.”
Thiel returned the compliment: “Mark Zuckerberg has tremendous intelligence, strength, and honesty. His talents will serve well at Meta as he leads the company into a new era.”
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