Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan that he thinks Trump will protect American companies' 'strategic advantage'

• Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan he's "optimistic" about how Trump will impact American businesses.
• On the nearly 3-hour podcast episode, Zuck said he thinks Trump will defend American tech abroad.
• The conversation comes days after Meta got rid of third-party fact-checkers.

Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan in a podcast episode on Friday that he thinks President-elect Donald Trump will help American businesses, calling technology companies in particular a "bright spot" in the economy.

"I think it's a strategic advantage for the United States that we have a lot of the strongest companies in the world, and I think it should be part of the US' strategy going forward to defend that," Zuckerberg said during the nearly three-hour episode of 'The Joe Rogan Experience.' "And it's one of the things that I'm optimistic about with President Trump is, I think he just wants America to win."

Zuckerberg told Rogan the government should defend America's tech industry abroad to ensure it remains strong, and that he is "optimistic" Trump will do so.

The episode dropped just days after Meta significantly altered its content moderation policies, replacing third-party fact checkers with a community-notes system similar to that on Elon Musk's X. Trump praised the change earlier this week and said it was "probably" a response to threats he's made against the Meta CEO.

Zuckerberg, clad in a black tee and gold necklace emblematic of his new style, told Rogan that the change reflects the nation's "cultural pulse" as it was reflected in the presidential election results. At the beginning of the episode, Zuckerberg bashed how President Joe Biden's administration handled content moderation, especially during the pandemic.

A representative for Biden didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The episode and Meta's flurry of changes are part of efforts from Zuckerberg to improve his relationship with Trump. Meta has confirmed to BI that it's donating $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, along with other tech companies like Microsoft and Google.