Meta Follows Elon Musk’s Lead, Moves Employees to Friendly Billionaire in Texas

“The authorities are doing everything they can to establish a good environment for what they want to do, without review or accountability from actors like our courts or parliamentarians or others,” he said.

Since taking over X, formerly Twitter, Musk has been one of Trump’s closest allies, support his campaign with money and lending the weight of his platform to bolster Trump’s rhetoric during the campaign. Since then he has been in meetings with foreign leaders and the president-elect, and he was evaluated personnel decisions of the new administration. Some tech leaders have noticed, the association with Trump is giving to his opening fund. But even before the election. other technology companies were following X’s lead in data protection and security which was already there.

For his part, Mr. David Greene, the chief lawyer of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, says that Meta and other social networks must follow the laws of the state regardless of location. And moving workers to Texas doesn’t mean all of its problems that need to be fixed will be solved. Bias, he says, can cut both ways.

“Fake information is one of the many, many, many issues that social media has to deal with,” he says. “Having a minority group in Texas can also raise concerns about discrimination. For example, Texas has laws on the books that prohibit the publication of certain information about the availability of abortion services.

But Benavidez says Texas’ social media laws may not be the only ones the state wants. “When a company has a headquarters or does a large business in a state, it allows them to use that state to manage their assets in the future,” he says.

In 2023, X filed a lawsuit in Texas against the nonprofit organization Media Matters for Americasaying that the group has defamed the company by showing that hateful and insulting words on the platform are close to sales. At the time, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton he announced again His office was opening an investigation into the organization. A federal judge in Texas refused to lose the case in August 2024. X has been around ever since he changed his behavior so that any lawsuits against the company must be brought in Texas. Corporations should be brought to the Northern District of Texas, which is considered friendly to Musk’s interests. (The Media Matters judge, for example, says buying and selling goods (in Musk’s Tesla company earlier this year, before the suit was brought.)

The shaver is word of mouthunlike its community guidelines, so far it remains the same, ordering disputes to be resolved in the Northern District of California or, in the state, in San Mateo County. But this may change.

“The legislative environment, the judicial environment, the regulatory environment in Texas is very good for executives like Musk, and now Zuckerberg,” says Benavidez.

Gill says that the regulatory environment in Texas may resemble what the industry believes the national regulatory environment will look like under the new Trump administration.

“I think they’re looking into the future and seeing an environment that will be dominated by a reckless and tyrannical leadership,” he says. “So they’re moving to a place where it’s normal to be able to follow.”

Gill also said that Meta is faced with antitrust case from the Federal Trade Commissionwhich friendly administrators may see fit to throw away. “By making these changes that they hope will please the administration, they can hope to return the decision in a friendly way,” he says.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.