Just kidding, it’s actually a picture of the 1985 Reagan / Gorbachev “trust but verify” meeting.
Speaking of meeting with #Meta, though, a couple of suggestions for whoever’s talking with them …
It would be great if Meta got a consistent message about how toxic their approach of having discussions only under #NDA has been. If you all draw a hard line and refuse to have discussions with them until they’re ready to disclose their plans more broadly, they can find a way to do that if they want to.
They might say no of course, even after they’ve gotten the feedback from their potential partners that their approach is toxic to the #fediverse. If so, that’s good calibration.
And I’m sure you know this already but it’s worth repeating: just like any other big company, Meta will put their own interests above yours. The people you’re working with may well be awesome – it’s their job to get you to like them, and they’re probably quite good at it. But they’re not the ones who are in charge. If and when it becomes expedient for Meta to discard you or screw you over, that’s what they’ll do.
And a suggestion to #MastoAdmin, whether or not you’re meeting with Meta:
No matter what your position is on the #FediPact - now’s a very good time to have discussions with your community about the issue. Tensions are high and there are a lot of rumors floating around. Now’s a good time for instance admins to discuss with their communities summarizes and links out to several good examples of community discussions – including the outstanding #TertuliaExtraordinaria thread – you could use as a template or starting point.