As the 2024 election approaches, the leaders of two of the country’s most influential social media companies appear to be playing by glaringly different sets of political rules.

After years of pressure from Republicans accusing him of improperly favoring Democrats, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sought to wash his hands of the perception of political influence. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another — or to even appear to be playing a role,” Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) last month. Zuckerberg said Meta would resist government pressure on content moderation, and he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, would not re-up past donations to a nonpartisan election infrastructure project that Republicans attacked as serving Democrats in the 2020 election cycle.

X owner Elon Musk has taken the opposite tack. He has not only endorsed former president Donald Trump and hosted the GOP nominee in a friendly live audio conversation on X, but he also helped launch a PAC that is pouring millions toward electing Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris. Unlike Musk, Zuckerberg has not endorsed a presidential candidate and has said little about the election. He did refer to Trump’s response to the July assassination attempt on his life — when the former president famously pumped his fist in defiance before the crowd — as “badass.”

Zuckerberg and other social media executives have historically tried to “maintain good relationships with both parties,” said Katie Harbath, CEO of the tech consultancy Anchor Change and a former Facebook official, because whichever party is in power can “inflict a lot of pain.” Lately, Zuckerberg in particular has seemed “desperate to not get pulled into politics,” she added.

That was evident last month when the Meta CEO took the rare step of writing Jordan directly to smooth things over. As the chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, the pugilistic Republican has held hearings accusing Meta and other tech giants of “censoring” conservatives. he project funded local polling site accommodations for the coronavirus pandemic across the country in 2020. It drew jeers from Republicans who argued the money went disproportionately to jurisdictions that lean Democratic. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) in 2021 called the initiative “one of the most egregious” potential examples of “billionaires buying elections.” Trump decried it as “fraud” and “cheating” and threatened to prosecute Zuckerberg. Dozens of GOP-led states passed laws aimed at prohibiting private actors from donating funds toward election administration efforts, and congressional Republicans introduced and advanced a similar bill in the House in May. In fact, the bipartisan Federal Election Commission in 2022 unanimously rejected claims that the project was intended to influence the election, and an academic study published in May found that the initiative didn’t noticeably affect the election’s outcome.

Brian Baker, a spokesperson for Zuckerberg and Chan, told the Tech Brief on Wednesday that it’s a mistake to read the CEO’s letter as a political concession, as the initiative was intended only to “help Americans safely vote during the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid pandemic” and the pair “never had plans to repeat these donations.”

While Zuckerberg tries to minimize his role in the presidential race, Musk is actively trying to shape its outcome.

A year ago, Musk was among those criticizing Zuckerberg for the donations. Now he’s helping to steer the America PAC, which has spent more than $30 million since mid-August primarily on get-out-the vote initiatives in key battleground states, as our colleagues Amy Gardner, Trisha Thadani and Clara Ence Morse reported Sunday.

While Musk has said the group is not meant to be “hyperpartisan,” materials distributed by it and reviewed by The Post were clearly supportive of Trump and opposing Harris, largely echoing Musk’s own rhetoric, including by bashing Democratic immigration policies.

Musk has repeatedly used his X profile — which has the biggest reach by far on the site with nearly 200 million followers — to boost Trump’s campaign and criticize Harris. Trump will “will save democracy and America,” while Harris “would be a disaster,” the billionaire posted on X last month. This month, Trump said Musk has agreed to head a task force in his next administration to audit federal spending and regulations.

X and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. Musk has said the platform itself “is meant to support all viewpoints … even those of people with whom I vehemently disagree.”

Spokespeople for Jordan and Cruz did not return requests for comment on Zuckerberg and Musk’s approaches. Republicans have praised Musk’s pledges to protect free speech.

The difference may lie partly in the personalities of the two tech titans, who last year threatened to face off in a cage match.

Harbath said Musk may also feel he has less to lose than Zuckerberg from taking overt political stances. But she said it’s too early to conclude that Musk is immune from the forces that have made Zuckerberg so reticent.

“I think Mark and other execs have a lot more scars of past elections and testifying at Congress than Elon does,” Harbath said. If the Democrats win in November, she added, “Let’s see what happens.”

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