Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta announced a major overhaul of its global policy team on Thursday — firing left-leaning head Nick Clegg and replacing him with the company’s best-known Republican, Joel Kaplan.
Kaplan, who once served as George W. Bush’s deputy chief of staff, will take the reins of the Facebook and Instagram owner just days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Clegg, the former leader of the UK Liberal Democrat party, has led Meta’s policy team since 2018 – a time when Tories began mounting claims that their views were being suppressed by the social media giant.
Those efforts became more visible when Facebook suppressed The Post’s reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop scandal shortly before the 2020 election. The social media platform also banned Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol.
However, the change in leadership is the latest sign of Zuckerberg’s ongoing effort to cozy up to the president-elect. In November, the tech titan raced to Mar-a-Lago for dinner with Trump after reportedly asking for a meeting to discuss “the next administration.”
Shortly after the meeting, Clegg said Zuckerberg was aiming to have “an active role in the debates that any administration should have about maintaining America’s leadership in technology … and especially the key role that AI will play.”
Meta also donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Zuckerberg thanked Clegg for his seven years of service by showing him the door.
“I’ve learned a lot working with you and our entire team is better off for having this opportunity,” he wrote in a comment on Clegg’s Facebook post announcing the transition.
“I am excited that Joel will step into this role next, given his deep experience and insight that has guided our policy work for many years.”
Clegg said he would “spend a few months handing over the reins” to Kaplan before moving on to what he described as “new adventures”.
“I will be forever grateful to Mark and Sheryl Sandberg for taking me on in the first place – and to the many colleagues and teams I’ve been fortunate to work with since then. It really has been the adventure of a lifetime,” said Clegg, whose departure was first reported by Semaphore.
The Clegg controversy played a major role in shaping Meta’s treatment of content moderation and elections. He was also heavily involved in the creation of the Meta Oversight Board – which has faced harsh criticism in recent days for being biased against Israel.
In a sign of his political leanings, Clegg publicly blasted Elon Musk at an event in September – declaring that the X owner had turned the social media app formerly known as Twitter into “a one-man kind of hobby horse kind of thing.” hyperpartisan and ideological. .”
When asked if Meta should moderate content at the time, Clegg said: “We inevitably have to.”
Kaplan is widely seen as Meta’s leading champion for conservatives — and is said to have argued against policies that would disproportionately affect right-leaning views.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a vocal critic of Big Tech, praised Meta’s decision to elevate Kaplan.
“I have known and respected Joel Kaplan for many years, and I am confident that he will continue to defend free speech and anti-censorship,” Cotton said in a statement.
The political stakes are high for Meta, who Trump has previously described as “the enemy of the people” over alleged censorship and election meddling.
Trump and his allies attacked Zuckerberg and Meta until July, accusing the company of suppressing information about the attempted assassination of the Republican presidential candidate at a July 13 rally.
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