Watch video | Trump mocks Zuckerberg about his political career, gets instant refusal
On Thursday evening, after a reporter asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about free speech concerns in Britain, US President Donald Trump said, "This is the beginning of your political career".
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump quipped at Mark Zuckerberg, at the White House dinner, claiming that this can be a probable start to his political career. In response, the tech giant denied the claim saying, "No, it's not." The dialogue took place on Thursday, after a journalist asked Zuckerberg about free speech concerns in Britain. To which Trump bantered, saying, "This is the beginning of your political career".
Replying to Trump's witty remark, Zuckerberg said, "No, it's not". The US President then proceeded to answer the reporter's question.
As per the news channel CNN, Zuckerberg told Trump that he "wasn't ready" to answer a question from reporters. As reporters left the room, the tech CEO claimed, "Sorry, I wasn't ready".
Laughing at the response, Trump then leaned over to reiterate the conversation to First Lady Melania Trump, who was seated nearby.
Heavy investments ahead
Apart from Zuckerberg, many other tech CEOs in attendance were present at the event. The guest included Apple's CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella and Bill Gates, Google's Sundar Pichai and Sam Altman, who heads OpenAI. Many of the leading tech executives had attended Trump's inauguration.
At the dinner, Trump discussed how much the tech leaders were planning to invest in the US. The response turned out to be fortunate. Tim Cook claimed to invest 600 billion dollars, while Zuckerberg pledged the same amount. Pichai promised $250 billion over the next two years and Nadella locked the deal for 75-80 billion dollars this year.
"I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major investment in the United States," Cook said. "That says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation."