Google CEO Sundar Pichai is scheduled to fly to his Mar-a-Lago mansion on Thursday to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, according to reports.
Pichai is just the latest billionaire tech executive to seek advice from Trump, joining Tesla founder Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, according to the report. information.
But the meeting came after President Trump accused the search giant of fervently anti-conservative and anti-Trump bias.
Meanwhile, the US government is considering whether to break up Google after a judge ruled in August that the search engine is a monopoly. As president, Trump could influence the severity of fines imposed on Google if it engages in illegal monopolization.
Mr. Pichai faces significant obstacles as he seeks to distance himself from Mr. Trump, including Mr. Musk, who owns Tesla, SpaceX, xAI and X, formerly known as Twitter.
Musk became a close aide to Trump during the campaign, appearing on stage at rallies and at his Mar-a-Lago home on election night. donate a huge amount of $250 million to his campaign and pro-Trump PACs.
His company competes directly with Google's artificial intelligence venture and its self-driving car division, Waymo.
Mr. Musk reportedly surprised Mr. Pichai last month when he jumped on a call between Google executives and Mr. Trump. information.
During Trump's first campaign and inauguration, Pichai criticized the Republican president's “Muslim ban.”
“Let's not let fear overcome our values,” Pichai wrote in a blog post in 2015 after then-candidate Trump proposed a ban.
In 2017, after President Trump signed an executive order banning refugees from Muslim-majority countries, Google doubled down, saying it would “fight” the ban.
Trump has been singing a different tune about Google in recent months, defending the company and saying it shouldn't be broken up, but he's still filling his incoming Cabinet with anti-Google talent.
President Trump has nominated Google critic Gail Slater to lead the Justice Department's antitrust efforts, signaling that his administration will continue to pursue the tech giant.
“Big Tech has been out of control for years,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, announcing his nomination for Slater.
Brendan Carr, President Trump's nominee to head the Federal Communications Commission, has similarly accused Google of crushing conservative voices in the past.
Mr. Pichai has no plans to try to negotiate antitrust litigation or future regulations during his meeting with Mr. Trump, people briefed on the plan told The Information.
Technology industry leaders, fearing increased regulatory scrutiny, are eager to win President Trump's support ahead of his second administration.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with the president two weeks ago, and Meta donated $1 million to President Trump's inaugural fund. .
Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is scheduled to meet with President Trump next week, the president-elect said Thursday.
