Meta’s president of global affairs, former U.K. deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, is leaving the social giant after more than six years. Taking his place: Joel Kaplan, a Meta lobbying exec with ties to the Republican party.
Clegg is stepping down from the role just weeks before Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as U.S. president. “As a new year begins, I have come to the view that this is the right time for me to move on from my role as President, Global Affairs at Meta,” Clegg wrote in a public Facebook post Thursday.
Kaplan joined Facebook in 2011, and became the company’s VP of global public policy in 2014. He has been seen as key to Meta’s efforts to reach out conservative lawmakers who have criticized the company for a perceived anticonservative bias. “Joel is 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,” Clegg wrote in the post.
Kaplan was formerly deputy chief of staff under President George W. Bush from 2006-09. Prior to that, he worked as a law clerk for former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia after graduating from Harvard Law School. Before joining Facebook, Kaplan was EVP for public policy and external affairs for Energy Future Holdings Corp.
Trump has lashed out at Meta/Facebook in the past on numerous occasions — and also has attacked company co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In Trump’s book “Save America,” published in early September, he repeated allegations that Facebook somehow interfered with the 2020 election and wrote, “We are watching [Zuckerberg] closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison — as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
Following Trump’s 2024 election win, Zuckerberg traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to dine with the president-elect. In addition, Meta is among companies donating $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Zuckerberg, in a reply Thursday on Clegg’s resignation post, wrote, “I’m grateful for everything you’ve done for Meta and the world these past seven years. I’ve learned so much working with you and our whole team is better for having this opportunity. 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.”
Clegg had served as head of the U.K.’s Liberal Democrats party before joining Meta (then Facebook) in the fall of 2018. With the company’s rapid growth in the following years “came significant scrutiny and controversy too — and I am proud of the work I have been able to do leading and supporting teams across the company to ensure continued innovation can go hand in hand with increased transparency and accountability, and with new forms of governance,” he wrote.
Kevin Martin, who served as FCC chairman and was appointed to the commission by President George W. Bush, will replace Kaplan as VP of global policy. Martin joined Facebook in 2018 and has been Meta’s VP of U.S. public policy. “With his extensive experience at Meta, and his previous record of public service as Chairman of the FCC, I know Kevin will be a strong leader of the policy org and will continue to be a great partner to Joel,” Clegg wrote.
Pictured above: Meta co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (left), Joel Kaplan
