Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy Prime Minister, has called time on his role as Meta’s global affairs chief.
The former Liberal Democrats leader leaves the company after nearly seven years and will be succeeded by his deputy Joe Kaplan.
Kaplan is a Republican who served as deputy chief of staff in the White House during President George W Bush’s administration. He reportedly handles the company’s relations with Republicans.
Aside from the new global chief global affairs officer, other key public affairs and comms leaders at Meta include VP of global communications and public affairs David Ginsberg and VP of global policy Kevin Martin.
Clegg joined Facebook as its communications chief in 2018 after losing his seat as an MP in 2017. He quickly rose to president of global affairs, the most influential lobbying and advocacy roles at the Silicon Valley giant, and has since become a close confidant to Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg.
At a time when Zuckerberg was focused on the metaverse, Clegg led Meta’s efforts to combat damaging allegations about online harms, claims about the platform’s influence on elections, including genocide in Myanmar, and calls from the US, Europe and the UK for Meta to be more tightly regulated.
In a statement announcing his resignation, Clegg said he would help the business transition to Kaplan’s leadership and attend international events in Q1 before moving onto his next challenge.
“Today, Meta is a leader not just in social media, but in AI and augmented and virtual reality too. My time at the company coincided with a significant resetting of the relationship between “big tech” and the societal pressures manifested in new laws, institutions and norms affecting the sector,” he said.
“I hope I have played some role in seeking to bridge the very different worlds of tech and politics – worlds that will continue to interact in unpredictable ways across the globe.”
‘Right person, right time’
Clegg described Kaplan as “quite clearly the right person for the right job at the right time – ideally placed to shape the company’s strategy as societal and political expectations around technology continue to evolve”.
Kaplan’s appointment follows a change of tack from Meta towards Trump since he was elected.
The business had previously fallen out with the president-elect over a decision to ban him from Meta platforms in the wake of the 6 January Capitol attack. Coincidentally, Clegg led efforts to reinstate Trump on the social media platforms.
However, in more recent times, Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg has taken steps to improve the relationship, congratulating Trump on his win, meeting with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort, and donating US$1 million towards his inauguration fund.
Zuckerberg said he was grateful for Clegg’s work over the past seven years.
“I’ve learned so much working with you and our whole team is better for having this opportunity,” he said in a Facebook post.
“You’ve made an important impact advancing Meta’s voice and values around the world, as well as our vision for AI and the metaverse. You’ve also built a strong team to carry this work forward. I’m excited for Joel to step into this role next given his deep experience and insight leading our policy work for many years.”
