Meta appoints new Trump-friendly policy chief

Meta is shaking up its policy team ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, with global policy head Nick Clegg stepping down after seven years at the company. He’ll be replaced by Joel Kaplan, a prominent Republican and Meta’s current vice president of policy.

In a post on Facebook, Clegg says it’s the “right time” for him to leave Meta, adding that he’ll spend the next few months “handing over the reins” to Kaplan. “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 says.

Kaplan served as the White House deputy chief of staff during George W. Bush’s administration and joined Meta in 2011. He drew some controversy in 2018 when he supported Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during a Senate hearing about sexual assault allegations, which reportedly angered some employees. Kaplan also recently joined Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance at the New York Stock Exchange.

Clegg, who once served as the UK’s deputy prime minister as a member of the Liberal Democrats party, joined Meta in 2018. He played a pivotal role in shaping Meta’s policies in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which saw a rise in covid-related misinformation and a ban on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. In December, Clegg reversed the company’s earlier stance, saying Meta has been mistakenly moderating too much.

“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,” Zuckerberg said in a response to Clegg’s post. “I’m excited for Joel to step into this role next given his deep experience and insight leading our policy work for many years.”

Original Author: Emma Roth | Source: The Verge