When Mark Zuckerberg announced his overhaul of “free speech” in January on Meta’s modification of the content, the unexpected turn was the highlight of a months-long planning with a tight inner circle guided by one key advisor: Republican lobbyist Joel Kaplan.
According to interviews with multiple current and former Target Employees, Kaplan has increased in the past decade to become the most loyal political repair of Zuckerberg, and now the public face of the Social Media platform in the amount of 1.7 Dotm, because Big Tech adapts to the second term under Donald Trump.
The conservative character was promoted to the chief of global jobs shortly before Zuckerberg stated that the company would Release moderation policies and checking the facts. Replaces the liberal former deputy government in the UK Nick Clegg.
More former employees claims that Kaplan has interfered with political decisions in the past decade, such as whether the content should remain up or lower. They said that in some cases he was overlooked by a typical explanation of the company’s policy or other senior decisions to calm down right -wing data so as not to complain about censorship.
Kaplan was skilled in “kutting what creators of politics want without basically changing Mark,” said a former older employee who worked closely with him, adding: “Until recently.”
“This is a very sensitive political dance that Joel helped in navigation,” said Katie Harbath, a former policy director who worked with Caplan on the target of the election strategy for a decade. “But it’s a complicated situation with some more difficult compromises.”
In his first weeks in the role, Kaplan attended a white house with Zuckerberg and went to a charm offensive in Europe, meeting leaders like Italy Giorgia Meloni and British Sir Keira Starmer. “He has a Mark’s ear in a way that no one works,” said one person who worked closely with Caplan.
Some insiders, Kaplan is a reliable intermediary of the forces that Zuckerberg must help to capture the current administration and protect the bottom of the company, as Trump threatens companies that do not come with retaliation.
Critics, Kaplan’s focus on optics came to the detriment of internet security and risked the alienation of some employees, while it was focused on the content of content, as well as protective intelligence and ethics.
He also faced reputational strokes, including revelation on past accusations of sexual harassment of former target director, who appeared this week.
Kaplan educated on Harvard joined the Meta, then Facebook, in 2011 after being an official of former Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, an officer of the Marin Corps, and as a deputy chief of Policy at the White House during the George W Bush administration administration.
The current and former colleagues describe him as a valued legal expert who played a key role in spreading metal for lobbying and regularly sought his colleagues’ contribution regardless of their politics.
“In an era where everyone is polarized, he is impressive in his ability to work with everyone in the entire spectrum,” said former top -notch CEO Elliot Schrage.
His promotion comes because Zuckerberg sought to renew his relationships with Trump, following regulatory support for his plans to become a “AI leader”. Trump has previously accused the billionaire of censorship and threatened to throw him in prison for the alleged election.
Kaplan advocated and helped to make changes in moderation, which were widely viewed as a move to calm Trump, and the president welcomed them.
One Meta Insider said that they believe that Kaplan is crucial in ensuring that the target AI is a large linguistic model of Llala neutral, not sharing any political opinion before the United States elections.
Kaplan also played a role in executing a target decision to allow companical AI models to be used for US military purposes, said that person.
His republican relationships caused controversy with his left colleagues. In 2018, he attended the congress barbecue of his friend and the then candidate for the co -ordinary court, Brett Kavanaugh as a show of support. The move caused discomfort among some employees due to the allegation that Kavanaugh had committed a sex attack as a teenager, which he denied.
Kaplan dealt with the problem with Facebook staff, but then continued to host a party for Kavanaugh when he won the nomination, causing further internal distress.
In the second episode, after Trump wrote a controversial post stating: “When the robbery begins, the shooting begins” in 2020 during the Protest of Black Lives Matters, Kaplan advised Trump’s team about the president’s posts could stay in progress without breaking the platform policy for stimulating violence, he states two people. They claimed that it beyond the typical processes.
Following these conversations, Trump added a post saying, “I don’t want this to happen. It was spoken as a fact, not as a statement.” Trump was later suspended from the platform after the riot on January 6th for multiple violations of politics.
“There is a written procedure and there is a Joel procedure,” said a former older insider. “Joel would beat each time. Draft [Clegg] had global power. . . But in the US -it was always Joel. The first is among the same. “The target refused to comment on that question.
Kaplan is this week after a New book Former executive director Sarah Wynn-Williams accused him of sexual harassment, including inappropriate comments. When she was internally appealed against Kaplan, she claims that in 2017 she was fired in retaliation.
The target said Wynn-Williams, who was married to FT editor, was fired “for poor effect and toxic behavior,” and Kaplan was cleared after an internal investigation “found that she filed a misconception and unfounded allegations of harassment.”
On Wednesday, Meta provided an emergency arbitrator’s judgment that temporarily forbids the author to promote the book.
Caplan allies consider him a vital force for the company, and leaders like Starmer and Melonia had productive discussions with him on his European tour, according to political advisers who met the meetings.
Trump considers the veteran of the American business against the wave of regulations coming from the European Union, to people who are familiar with his thinking.
“When companies are treated differently in a way that is discriminating against them, it should be highlighted on the domestic government of that company,” Kaplan told the Munich audience last month. “So I think we’ll do it with President Trump.”
The Meta insider pointed to the speech of JD Vance last month in Paris, in which the vice -president exploded “excessive regulation of” AI sector by the EU. “Speech was like a talker for the target,” the person said, adding that they sounded like Kaplan himself could have told them.
Additional reporting Anna Gross in London, Henry Foy in Brussels and Amy Kazmin in Rome
