Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t practice what he preaches with regards to public safety.
The tech tycoon’s company has spent greater than $40 million on Zuckerberg’s personal security over the past three years — while at the identical time his family-run foundation has donated thousands and thousands of dollars to groups that wish to defund and even abolish the police.
Since 2020, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) has donated $3 million to PolicyLink, the organization behind DefundPolice.org, in accordance with investigative reporter Lee Fang.
The anti-cop group boasts on its website that its funds efforts to “diminish the role of policing in communities, and empower alternative visions for public safety,” though it fails to list what those substitutes could also be.
CZI, which Zuckerberg founded with wife Priscilla Chan, has also donated greater than $2.5 million to Solidaire, Fang reported, which seeks to get rid of policing.
Solidaire reported in a June 2022 overview of its Defund the Police for Funders program that it proudly led the “Anti-Police Terror Project,” which claims to have played a big role in stripping the Oakland Police Department’s budget of $18 million.
Mark Zuckerberg has spent $43.4 million on his personal security since 2020.picture alliance via Getty Images
The Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of 150 activist groups funded by Solidaire, said in a press release that “the police don’t keep us secure, and so they don’t prevent nor stop crime.”
“Pouring more cash into the system of policing only threatens the very lives they’re presupposed to protect,” it added.
That idea apparently stops at CZI’s door.
The inspiration provides annual funds to a community group tied to the Redwood City Police Department — the local law enforcement agency that patrols each Meta’s headquarters in Melo Park, Calif., and CZI’s offices in Redwood City, Calif., Fang wrote on his Substack on Friday.
Representatives for Meta and CZI didn’t immediately reply to The Post’s request for comment.
Meta, meanwhile, increased its pretax spending on Zuckerberg’s security to $14 million in 2023, up from $10 million over the past several years, in accordance with an organization filing released in February.
Zuckerberg, who has thrown himself into becoming a jiu-jitsu master, is allowed to make use of the cash to pay for “additional personnel, equipment, services, residential improvement” and other safety-related needs.
The documents noted such a costly security detail was mandatory as a consequence of the 39-year-old’s “position and importance to Meta,” and the undeniable fact that he “has requested to only receive $1 in annual salary and doesn’t receive any bonus payments, equity awards or other incentive compensation.”
In 2021, Meta reportedly earmarked a complete of $27 million for an “overall security program” that ensured the protection of Zuckerberg, Chan and their three daughters.
A cool $10 million of that was the “annual pretax allowance,” while the remainder reportedly covered Zuckerberg’s secure, private air travel.
Zuckerberg has reportedly gifted at the least $5.5 million to organizations advocating for the defunding or abolishing of police through his his personal foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.defundpolice.org
It wouldn’t be the primary time Zuckerberg has been seemingly hypocritical with regards to protecting his family.
Earlier this week, the Meta boss sparked outrage for posting a photograph to Instagram where he concealed his two eldest daughters’ faces with emojis.
Zuckerberg, who has been touting the launch of his “Twitter killer” app Threads, was seen within the photo wearing a US flag-themed cowboy hat while standing next to Chan, who’s holding their infant daughter, Aurelia, in her hands.
Zuckerberg was bashed for posting a family photo coving his two eldest daughers’ faces with emojis — a move to guard their privacy as Instagram has been accused of monetizing user data that has led to private data becoming public.
While four-month-old Aurelia’s face is just not covered, her older sisters — Maxima, 7, and August, 5 — have their faces obscured.
Instagram users criticized Zuckerberg for insisting on privacy for his children whilst his company has been accused of monetizing user data that has led to private information becoming public.
“Even Zuck doesn’t trust his platforms to place his kids faces up,” one Instagram user commented.
One other Instagram user wrote: “Take notes. The founding father of Meta doesn’t want his daughter’s faces posted to social media.”
