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Former Trump Adviser Dina Powell McCormick Appointed Meta President and Vice Chairman

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Meta Platforms on Monday named former Trump administration official Dina Powell McCormick as its president and vice chairman, a move widely seen as strengthening the company’s lobbying and political ties in Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Powell McCormick shortly after the announcement in a post on Truth Social, calling her “fantastic” and praising her service in his administration with “strength and distinction.”

Her appointment comes amid a broader strategic realignment at Meta that has brought the company closer to Trump and Republican leadership. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has been seeking political backing for Meta’s expanding investments in frontier artificial intelligence and so-called personal superintelligence, including plans to build massive data centers and secure long-term energy capacity. Ahead of Trump’s second inauguration, Zuckerberg visited him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Over the past year, Meta has taken several steps that have appealed to Trump, including scrapping its U.S. fact-checking program, promoting Republican executive Joel Kaplan to chief global affairs officer, ending diversity programs, and hiring former Trump trade adviser C.J. Mahoney to lead its legal team. Meta declined to say whether Powell McCormick’s appointment was intended to curry favor with Trump.

Dina Powell McCormick Joins Meta as President and Vice Chairman

According to the company, Powell McCormick will focus on expanding Meta’s data center footprint, building new strategic capital partnerships, and increasing the firm’s long-term investment capacity—areas critical to its AI ambitions. Meta has committed up to $72 billion in capital spending for 2025 as it works to regain momentum in Silicon Valley’s AI race after a muted reception to its Llama 4 model.

Powell McCormick brings extensive experience in both finance and government. She spent 16 years in senior leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, served as deputy national security adviser during Trump’s first term, and previously held a senior White House advisory role under former President George W. Bush. She is married to David McCormick, a Republican senator from Pennsylvania who chairs a Senate subcommittee overseeing energy policy—an area relevant to Meta’s data center expansion.

A spokesperson for Senator McCormick said he will continue to comply with all Senate ethics rules. However, critics raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest. Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, said the senator should recuse himself from any votes or committee actions involving Meta’s business.

Powell McCormick’s new role echoes the influence once wielded by former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who used deep ties to Washington and the Democratic Party to help Meta navigate regulatory scrutiny. Notably, Powell McCormick had resigned from Meta’s board in December, just eight months after joining, before being elevated to her new executive position.

Brazil Antitrust Authority Opens Probe Into WhatsApp Business AI Restrictions

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CADE, Brazil’s antitrust regulator, said on Monday it has opened an investigation into the updated terms of Meta Platforms’ WhatsApp Business tool, citing concerns over potential anti-competitive practices. As part of the probe, CADE has ordered the suspension of the new terms in Brazil while the case is under review.

According to the regulator, the investigation focuses on whether the revised terms restrict access by artificial intelligence tool providers to WhatsApp users in a way that harms competition. CADE said such limitations could affect how AI chatbot providers offer services through the messaging platform.

The probe follows complaints filed by AI chatbot companies after Meta introduced new terms in October that banned them from using the WhatsApp Business Solution. Regulatory documents indicate that rivals argue the policy effectively blocks third-party AI services, potentially favoring Meta’s own AI offerings within the WhatsApp ecosystem.

A WhatsApp spokesperson rejected the accusations, saying the claims are “fundamentally wrong.” The company said the rapid growth of AI chatbots on the WhatsApp Business Platform has strained its infrastructure, which was not originally designed to support such services.

Brazil’s move adds to mounting regulatory scrutiny of Meta’s AI and messaging practices worldwide, as competition authorities increasingly examine how large platforms manage access to their ecosystems amid the rise of generative AI tools.

Meta to Cut About 10% of Reality Labs Workforce as Metaverse Push Scales Back

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Meta Platforms plans to cut around 10% of employees in its Reality Labs division, according to a report by the New York Times citing three people familiar with the discussions. The layoffs, which could be announced as soon as Tuesday, are expected to fall disproportionately on teams working on metaverse-related products, including virtual reality headsets and virtual social platforms.

Reality Labs employs roughly 15,000 people and has been at the center of Meta’s long-running bet on the metaverse, an immersive digital universe championed by Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg. Since 2020, the division has burned more than $60 billion, as heavy investment failed to translate into mass adoption or meaningful revenue.

Beyond the metaverse, Reality Labs is responsible for several of Meta’s hardware initiatives, including Quest mixed-reality headsets, smart glasses developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica under the Ray-Ban brand, and longer-term augmented reality glasses. While Meta has struggled to sell its broader vision of interconnected virtual worlds, its smart glasses have shown early traction—an area where rivals such as Google and Apple have so far failed to gain momentum with initial products.

According to the report, Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who oversees Reality Labs, has scheduled an in-person staff meeting for Wednesday and urged employees to attend, citing an internal memo.

Meta declined to immediately comment on the report. The planned cuts come as the Facebook parent faces growing pressure to refocus resources while trying to regain ground in Silicon Valley’s artificial intelligence race. Meta has recently struggled to generate enthusiasm around its latest AI efforts, including the Llama 4 model, adding to investor scrutiny over spending priorities.