Facebook vice president of global public policy Joel Kaplan and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg leave the Elysee Presidential Palace after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on May 23, 2018 in Paris, France.
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Facebook parent Meta Joel Kaplan, the company's current vice president of policy and a former Republican Party staffer, replaces global affairs president Nick Clegg.
The shakeup comes three weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office, and is the latest sign of how tech companies are positioning themselves for a new administration in Washington.
Clegg, who was the deputy prime minister in Great Britain, said that he is retiring, citing the new year as the right time to move on. He will be replaced by Kaplan, who will assume the title of chief global affairs officer.
Kaplan served as White House deputy chief of staff under former President George W. Bush, and appeared at the New York Stock Exchange by Vice President-elect JD Vance and Trump in December. He also attended Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing in the Supreme Court in 2018 as a personal friendcausing dispute for a social media company.
“I look forward to spending a few months handing over the reins – and to representing the company at a number of international gatherings in Q1 this year,” Clegg wrote in a memo to his staff. share it on Facebook Thursday.
Clegg joined the firm in 2018 after a career in British politics with the Liberal Democrat party, and helped Meta lead an extraordinary investigation, particularly into the firm's influence on elections and the its efforts to control harmful content.
Clegg also helped guide the company through the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook shared user data with third-party political consultants. He also represented the company in Washington and London, often at panels for artificial intelligence and at congressional hearings.
“My time at the company coincided with an important reset of the relationship between 'big tech' and the social pressures that are manifested in new laws, institutions and norms that affect the division,” Clegg wrote.
In his note, Clegg said Kevin Martin, the former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, would replace Kaplan as Meta's vice president of global policy. He said Kaplan will work closely with David Ginsburg, the company's vice president of global communications and public affairs.
“Nick: I'm grateful for everything you've done for Meta and the world over the past seven years,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. to take this work forward. I am excited for Joel to step into this role next with his deep knowledge and understanding of leading our policy work for many years.”
Semafor reported first the news.
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