Meta follows Elon Musk’s example and relocates employees to billionaire-friendly Texas

“Leaders do everything they can to create an environment conducive to the actions they want to take, without scrutiny or accountability from actors like our courts, legislatures, or others,” she says.

Since taking over X, formerly Twitter, Musk has become one of Trump’s most important allies. supports his campaign financially and by using the full weight of his own platform to promote Trump’s talking points during the campaign. He has since attended and commented on foreign leaders’ meetings with the president-elect Personnel decisions for the new government. Other tech leaders have taken note and aligned themselves with Trump Donate to his inauguration fund. But even before the election Other tech companies followed X’s lead and rolled back policies and protections that existed before.

For his part, David Greene, senior attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Meta and other social platforms would likely have to comply with state laws regardless of location. And moving staff to Texas doesn’t mean all perceived moderation problems will be solved. Bias, he says, can work both ways.

“Misinformation is really one of many, many, many issues that social media platforms have to deal with,” he says. “Having a moderation team in Texas could also raise concerns about bias. For example, Texas has laws that make it illegal to release certain information about the availability of abortion services.”

But Benavidez says Texas’ social media law may not be the state’s only recourse. “Once a company is either headquartered in a state or conducts significant business there, it can use that state as the venue for all future filings,” she says.

In 2023 X filed a lawsuit in Texas against nonprofit watchdog Media Matters for Americaalleging that the group had denigrated the company by pointing out that the platform ran hate speech and disinformation in addition to advertising. At the time, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also announced His office launched an investigation into the organization. A federal judge in Texas refused to dismiss the case in August 2024. X has since then has changed its terms of use Therefore, any lawsuits against the company must be filed in Texas. The Northern District of Texas needs to introduce state legislation that is widely seen as accommodating to Musk’s interests. (Reportedly, for example, the judge in the Media Matters case). shares bought and sold at Musk’s Tesla company earlier this year, before the lawsuit was filed.)

Metas Terms of UseUnlike its community guidelines, these remain the same so far, requiring that disputes be resolved either in the Northern District of California or at the state level in San Mateo County. But that could change.

“The legislative environment, the legal environment and the gubernatorial environment in Texas are incredibly favorable to leaders like Musk and now Zuckerberg,” Benavidez says.

Gill expects the regulatory environment in Texas could be similar to what companies believe the national regulatory environment will look like under a new Trump administration.

“I think that they look forward and see an environment that is dominated by a conservative-leaning and somewhat extremist government,” she says. “So they move to where that is the norm so they can comply in advance.”

Gill also notes that Meta is facing a crisis Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuitwhich a friendly administration might deem appropriate. “By preemptively making these changes that they hope will appease the government, they may be hoping for a friendly decision in return,” she says.

Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.