Facebook Vice President of Global Public Policy Joel Kaplan and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg leave the Elysee Palace after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on May 23, 2018 in Paris, France.
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Facebook parent Target replaces President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg with Joel Kaplan, the company’s current Vice President of Policy and former Republican Party operative.
The shake-up comes three weeks before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration and is the latest sign of how tech companies are positioning themselves for the new administration in Washington.
Clegg, a former UK deputy prime minister, said he was stepping down, citing the new year as the right time to move on. He will be replaced by Kaplan, who will assume the role of managing director of global affairs.
Kaplan was an employee of former President George W. Bush, and appeared on the NYSE with Vice President-Elect JD Vance and Trump in December. He also attended Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s 2018 confirmation hearing as a personal friendcausing controversy for a social media company.
“I look forward to spending a few months handing over the reins — and representing the company at a number of international gatherings in the first quarter of this year,” Clegg wrote in a memo to his staff that he shared on Facebook on Thursday.
Clegg joined the company in 2018 after a career in British politics with the Liberal Democrat party, and helped Meta navigate incredible scrutiny, particularly over the company’s influence on elections and its efforts to control harmful content. Clegg also helped steer the company through the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook shared user data with third-party political consultants. He has also represented the company in Washington and London, often on artificial intelligence panels and at congressional hearings.
“My time at the company has coincided with a significant resetting of the relationship between ‘big tech’ and societal pressures as reflected in new laws, institutions and norms affecting the sector,” Clegg wrote.
In his memo, Clegg said former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin will replace Kaplan as Meta’s vice president for global policy. He noted that 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. You have “built a strong team to continue this work. I am excited for Joel to take on this role next given his extensive experience and insight that has guided our policy work for years.”
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