The president of Meta’s Global Affairs staff, Nick Clegg, is stepping down from his place on the firm, the manager introduced in a tweet on Thursday.
Clegg, Meta’s politically centrist coverage chief since 2018, will likely be changed by one of many firm’s most distinguished Republican executives, Joel Kaplan. Clegg famous on X that Kaplan is “clearly the best particular person for the best job on the proper time.” This high-profile management change is going on simply three weeks earlier than President-elect Donald Trump takes workplace. The information was beforehand reported by Semafor.
“As a brand new yr begins, I’ve come to the view that that is the best time for me to maneuver on from my function as President, Global Affairs at Meta,” stated Clegg in his tweet. “My time on the firm coincided with a major resetting of the connection between ‘large tech’ and the societal pressures manifested in new legal guidelines, establishments and norms affecting the sector.”
Much of the expertise world is making an attempt to affix Trump’s good graces forward of his second time period. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg donated $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural fund in December and personally dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November. Other tech executives, akin to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, have additionally reportedly dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago following his second election win.
By appointing a Republican to go Meta’s coverage staff, the corporate could also be signaling they’re keen to work extra intently with conservatives within the incoming administration. Meta beforehand confronted scrutiny from Republicans who alleged the corporate’s content material moderation skewed to center-left politics and silenced right-wing voices. This included the corporate’s choice to ban Trump’s social media accounts following the January 6 rebel.
In the final yr, Meta has made a concerted effort to appease Republicans. Meta eliminated all restrictions on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts forward of the 2024 election. In August, Zuckerberg despatched a letter to House Republicans during which he apologized for bending to strain from the Biden administration to “censor sure COVID-19 content material.”
Meta didn’t instantly reply to TechCrunch’s request for remark.
