Nick Clegg of Meta Announces Departure, Joel Kaplan to Succeed Him as Replacement
Nick Clegg’s resignation comes just ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
On January 2, Meta’s Vice President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, announced that he is resigning from his position at the social media company after nearly seven years. Joel Kaplan, a well-known Republican and experienced policy executive, will take over his role.
This news arrives shortly before President-elect Donald Trump is slated to assume office.
With the arrival of a new year, he noted, it is the “right time” to make a transition.
“I hope I have contributed to bridging the disparate worlds of technology and politics – domains that will continue to interconnect in unpredictable manners across the globe,“ wrote Clegg. ”I am eternally thankful to Mark and Sheryl Sandberg for bringing me on board in the first instance – and to the many colleagues and teams I have been fortunate to collaborate with since then.“
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Throughout his tenure, Clegg addressed critical issues such as Facebook’s content policies, electoral processes, and the formation of an independent content oversight board.
His successor, Kaplan, previously held the position of deputy chief of staff for policy under President George W. Bush.
He joined Facebook in 2011 as vice president of U.S. public policy, managing the company’s relationships with both federal and state lawmakers. He was later elevated to vice president of global public policy at Facebook.
Clegg expressed his admiration for Kaplan, describing him as both a dear friend and a close colleague in his announcement.
“He will be able to build on what we have achieved together and advance what I was unable to accomplish,” Clegg remarked. “Joel is undoubtedly the right person for the job at this pivotal moment—perfectly positioned to influence the company’s direction as societal and political expectations surrounding technology continue to shift.”
Clegg mentioned that he will spend the next few months “transitioning” responsibilities to Kaplan and representing Meta at international events in the early part of this year before embarking on new ventures.
Reuters contributed to this report.
