Major U.S. tech companies are striving to strengthen ties with the administration of President Donald Trump. But these political manoeuvres have sparked reactions, raised ethical concerns, and even led to commercial disruptions. From direct political backing to policy changes influenced by Trump’'s agenda, industry leaders are facing increased scrutiny and, in some cases, a drop in sales. “ technology stocks saw their strongest sales in three years on Monday amid fears of shrinking profit margins due to rising import costs and shifting consumer confidence in key international markets.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is one of the most prominent supporters of US President Trump’; He donates millions to the presidential campaign and leads the administration's dismissal initiative, DOGE’. But Musk’'s political upheavals triggered widespread reactions and affected many of his businesses. Tesla sales are falling in numerous markets, and analysts associate this with Musk’'s controversial rhetoric. Meanwhile, Musk’'s SpaceX’i is losing a $100 million (€91.6 million) deal with Ontario for Starlink services due to Trump’'s tariffs on Canadian products. Prime Minister Doug Ford said “Ontario will not do business with people who are determined to destroy our economy.
Musk’'s support for ’'s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party may also have negatively affected Tesla’'s European sales. German Federal Motor Transport AuthorityAccording to ’, GermanyGeneral electric vehicle registrations in ’ %Tesla’'s car registrations increased by 31 in February is down. Sales in other European markets also suffered last month, Reuters’in reported; Tesla deliveries Portugal’de and France’da is down.
China’de Tesla faces regulatory negativity as trade tensions with the United States increase. While the company has not yet received approval for autonomous driving technology, its Chinese biggest competitor, BYD’, is likely to catch Beijing’'s eye, especially with China’ adopting the DeepSeek’'s artificial intelligence model as it prioritizes domestic demand.
Among the Magnificent Seven stocks, the low performance of Tesla’'s share price illustrates the potential risks of business and politics intermingling. The share price of the electric car maker has been on a bumpy trajectory since November last year; Trump's mid-December summit after nearly doubling since ’'s victory in the U.S. election is down.
Verification in Meta’
Musk is not the only entrepreneur trying to improve relations with President Donald Trump. Meta ended its third-party verification program in January and reintroduced political content, including previously restricted topics such as immigration and gender. Meta also donated $1 million (€916,000) to Trump’'s inauguration ceremony, contributing contributions from firms such as Amazon and OpenAI CEO ’ Sam Altman.
Meta’'s social apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, have long faced controversy over the spread of misinformation on politically sensitive topics. In 2016, Facebook was widely criticized for facilitating the dissemination of misinformation during Trump’'s first presidential campaign and contributing to the creation of information verification policies in subsequent years. The integration of AI into content control is now expected to bring more ethical and legal layers to this debate.
Mark Zuckerberg ’'s efforts to influence the new US administration also point to a change of direction. Meta Platforms previously suspended Trump’'s Facebook and Instagram accounts for two years in the wake of the Capitol riot in ’ on January 6, 2021. Trump has described Facebook ’ as “'s enemy.
Alphabet and Washington Post face employee review
Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet’, also sparked outrage when Google Maps ’da “ renamed the Gulf of Mexico ”ni “ the Gulf of America ”. This came in response to Trump’'s executive order calling for the renaming of the body of water. In addition, Alphabet’'s decision to abandon its policy banning the use of artificial intelligence for military applications has sparked serious ethical concerns, triggering widespread resignations and employee-initiated petitions against this change.
Meanwhile, Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon’, has faced criticism for changes in the newspaper's editorial stance. The opinion section of the publication now focuses on opinions that support “'s personal freedoms and the free market, but articles opposing this stance are not published. Bezos also blocked the paper's plans to support Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’i for the 2024 presidential election. These actions led to resignations within the company and a decline in subscriptions.
