Nick Clegg, former British deputy prime minister and current director of international affairs at Meta, is leaving the company after six years.
“It truly was an adventure of a lifetime!” Clegg said in a Facebook post. “I am proud of the work I have done leading and supporting teams across the company to ensure innovation, increased transparency and accountability, and new forms of governance go hand in hand.”
Mr. Clegg joined Facebook’s parent company in 2018 as vice president of global affairs and communications for the social media platform. At the time, the company was under intense scrutiny over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and its role in the 2016 US presidential election. He was promoted to director of policy in 2022 after helping establish the Facebook Oversight Board, an independent board that makes decisions about the social network’s moderation policies.
“My time at the company coincided with a major reset in the relationship between ‘big tech’ and the social pressures expressed in new laws, institutions and norms impacting the sector,” Clegg said. wrote. “I hope that I have played a role in bridging the very different worlds of technology and politics, worlds that continue to interact in unpredictable ways around the world.”
Clegg will be replaced by Vice President Joel Kaplan, who is “clearly the right person to do the right job at the right time,” Clegg wrote. Mr. Kaplan previously served as deputy chief of staff for policy under former President George W. Bush. He is known as Facebook’s most prominent conservative voice and rose to the top position at a time when the company was facing allegations of liberal bias.
During his tenure, Kaplan pushed for a partnership with the fact-checking arm of the right-wing news site The Daily Caller, responding to Republican concerns about the company’s affiliation with mainstream news outlets. Most recently, Mr. Kaplan was photographed alongside Vice President-elect J.D. Vance at Time magazine’s Person of the Year ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange.
The policy team reshuffle comes just weeks before President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. As President Trump enters and leaves office, tech companies including Meta have vacillated between enforcing moderation rules on Trump, including account bans, or rescinding their decisions. . Days after Trump’s election, Meta donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. This comes after President Trump threatened to punish Zuckerberg if his policies had any effect on the election.
In response to Clegg’s Facebook post, Zuckerberg thanked the executive and said, “Given his deep experience and insight over many years leading our policy efforts,” Kaplan said. said he is excited to take on the role.
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Zuckerberg responded to Clegg’s post, writing, “You have had a significant impact on advancing the voice and values of Meta around the world, and our vision for AI and the Metaverse.” “You have also built a strong team to advance this work.”
