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Nick Clegg, Meta’s global president, is leaving the social media platform and will be replaced by Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican known for overseeing the company’s relationships with conservatives.
Mr Clegg, a former Liberal Democrat leader and UK deputy prime minister, said in a post on Meta’s Facebook page on Thursday that he was leaving the company after seven years. He added that he would “take over the reins over several months” and represent the social network at international gatherings before moving on to “new adventures”.
Mr. Kaplan previously served as White House deputy chief of staff in the George W. Bush administration. As Meta’s vice president of global public policy, he is known for handling the company’s relationship with the Republican Party.
The reorganization comes weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House, with his Republican Party poised to control both chambers of Congress. Tech companies, including Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, are bracing for a major change in leadership in Washington.
Prominent social media platforms have come under pressure from the president-elect and other Republicans, who have repeatedly accused them of censorship and silencing conservative speech.
President Trump has specifically targeted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the past, threatening to jail him if he returns to office.
On the other hand, some critics argue that Meta has shifted to the right as a result, reversing some of its previous moderation efforts.
Since the election, executives at major tech companies, including Mr. Zuckerberg, who have previously had a cold relationship with Republican leaders, have taken steps to curry favor with the president-elect. He recently dined with President Trump at Trump’s mansion in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, and publicly congratulated Trump on his victory.
Clegg joined Meta in 2018 in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. During his tenure at Meta, he has regularly been on the front lines of dealing with the political storms that rock the company, while also helping the company navigate regulatory challenges in the U.S. and EU, and spearheading election campaigns.
This frees Mr. Zuckerberg to focus on Meta’s multibillion-dollar effort to become a world leader in artificial intelligence and develop new products in areas such as augmented reality.
Mr. Clegg had long been expected to end his tenure at the company with a partial move to London in mid-2022, people familiar with the matter said.
In a Facebook post on Thursday, he described his role as a “once-in-a-lifetime adventure” and described Zuckerberg as “one of the most important innovators and business leaders of our time.”
Mr. Kaplan is known as a highly effective lobbyist and has cut controversial figures at Meta.
In the past, he has made policy decisions on his behalf to prevent bad press when his right-wing political allies publicly complain that they are being censored, according to reports and people familiar with the matter. I have intervened in decisions. Meta denied allegations that its staff, including Kaplan, exercised political influence over decision-making processes or the treatment of politicians.
In late 2018, Meta announced that management had made a “mistake” after Kaplan attended the congressional execution of his friend and then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The move caused an uproar among some Meta employees because of allegations that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted them as a teenager, which he vehemently denies. He was eventually confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Semafor first reported this change.
