Zuckerberg’s masculine makeover is emblematic of how Silicon Valley – previously the bastion of Californian idealism – has fully pivoted towards the Trump era, says Eliza Filby

Back in early 2019, before the world had any inkling of what lay ahead, I attended a conference called: Disruption. It took place in a futuristic, windowless dome, and the event was opened by Bob Dylan. Well, a hologram of Bob Dylan at least, belting out his disruptive anthem, “The Times They Are A-Changin”. Throughout the conference, we were served up a future of driverless cars, AI singularity and 3D-printed gourmet meals.

Then, as we know, reality intervened. The pandemic plunged many of us into a very different, far less exciting reality at home in our sweatpants, relying on the delivery guy. Everyone scrambled to process what had just happened. Buzzwords like “the new normal” emerged. After the pandemic, as war in Europe, runaway inflation and social upheaval took hold, we were told to buckle up for the ‘perma-crisis’ age. Some pundits clung to clichés – “the only certainty is uncertainty” – while others flipped with fleeting Tiktok trends, from nannacore to the brat era. Viral vibes were where it was at. Everything felt chaotic, untethered.

Trump’s return to the White House, though, has cemented a certain trajectory many dismissed as a fluke in 2016. And with one major difference: Big Tech........

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